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Got Stuff?
Posted by Pat on September 24, 2012 in Uncategorized | ∞
As I move my summer clothes out to make room for my fall clothes, I again have to deal with how much stuff (including clothes) that I have.
Stuff that equals clutter.. Do you too have someplace in your home, office, files, closet, garage, car, etc. that might meet this description? It’s interesting that with our larger homes and bigger garages, that we still need to rent storage units for the rest of our stuff.
And how does it make us feel?
S=struggling, sad, sloppy, stagnation, strife
T=trapped, troubled, tired, tense
U=uncomfortable, unhappy, unhealthy
F=frustrated, foolish, fearful
F=failure, fatigued, forgetful
Judging by all the articles, books, interviews we are exposed to through TV and Amazon.com, it is a big deal for lots of us.
So what is it that drives us?
One way to discover what it is is by examining our old beliefs. Beliefs that
- there is not enough,
- that we might miss out on something,
- that s/he who dies with the most toys wins. (Wins what?)
There’s a fascination with the examples we may seen on those reality television shows. And I know that my sixteen years as a real estate agent put me into a number of homes that were indeed just collections of stuff with a path through to another room. But most families were just messy or somewhat cluttered, rather than the extreme hoarding examples.
When we think about it though, we know we came into this world with nothing and that we will leave it, taking nothing with us. So maybe we might find it beneficial to start releasing some of our stuff as we go along through this life?
How?
We can take some small steps to dig out from our stuff. How about 15 minutes a day?
- Maybe pulling out those clothes that we haven’t worn in a year or that no longer fit and passing them on to Goodwill?
- Maybe checking out all those mugs that seem to have multiplied in the cupboards? Could we pull 3-4 of the unnecessary ones and pass them on?
- Maybe that junk drawer in the kitchen or in the office could do with a purging as well?
- Maybe..?
When I take action on moving the excess stuff out, I move from feeling heavy to feeling lighter. So then I feel more positive about my life, my choices, my stuff. Love these words!
S=simplify, serve, serenity
T=thankful, trust, transformation, thrive
U=unburdened, unlimited, understanding, unity
F=flow, free
F=friendly, fun
I’ve made a dent in the closet but still am looking at the big project of clearing out the stuff in the files. Who knows how far back some of the paperwork goes!
And I ask you, “Are you willing to commit to some small steps with your stuff? And if so, where will you start?”
6 Comments
Teaming up to do the clearing out really does help the process to move along, once the commitment is made to start. It can be tough to do it alone – much harder to be objective anyway. Once again I think it may be all about ‘how do you eat an elephant?’ – one bite at a time.
I did finally manage to toss two wonderful t-shirts purchased while traveling. The holes were just getting too big to make them useful anymore even as nightshirts. But boy, that was hard! I loved those shirts and wore them steadily for a great many years. Well, I’ll keep the memories of how they came to me and where I was at the time – traveling in England and Italy.
Since my yarn stash is far too big a project to tackle right now, I have begun thinning out knitting patterns that I’ll never actually use. I have two really thick notebooks full of the things and someone else might get some use out of them. I’m aiming for just one such book on the shelf. It’s a start. And it really is sort of liberating.
Thanks for the post!
Congratulations, Fay, on getting started!
It’s wise to know what will work or not when we start these projects like your yarn stash. My stash seems to be my many, many books-some read and some not read. So, on occasion I’ll see if I can find just 5 paperback books to move on the used bookstore. (It’s hard to accept that it’s so difficult to even find 5 sometimes, given how many I really have!)
I’d be happy to take some of these books off your hands for my new library!
Thanks Laurie for checking out the blog posts!
If we choose something that is useful and of value, then adding it to our “stuff” is not a problem. But I still recommend that for every addition we do a subtraction! No sense making the pile bigger!
Today the stuff purge took me into my son’s closet. He is growing like mad & when we finished, there was an impressive pike of clothes and shoes that no longer fit him. Some he saved, as they are things he is certain that HIS son will want someday (what 10 yr old boy thinks if THAT?!). Some are for friends of his. He is a Stuff Keeper – each small trinket or old t-shirt holding a fountain of memories for him. Holding onto Stuff, for him, is a way of keeping memories close. This works for him, as he is not a Collector. I, on the other hand, am a constant Stuff Purger. The feelings you describe of relief and freedom brought on by purging and organizing bring energy and satisfaction. I feel as if a door into creativity is opened and clarity is within reach. What a perfect season for harvesting what we need and passing bounty forward!
Hi!
You share an important point that I think many folks overlook and that is the memories that are often attached. I guess that is why I keep some of those old mugs (like the one with my grandaughter’s baby picture on it and the one that’s left of a set my college roommate gave me). When some of our “stuff” acts as a trigger for warm memories, it earns its place in our life!