The other day, I read my sister's post and I now know who is to blame for the fact that I have so much clutter...it's clearly my parents fault! In her post, Joan spoke about how our parents never got rid of anything until all the life was sucked out of it (Joan used the work 'frugal'). It didn't matter if it was a jacket, a television, a lamp, a car. As long as the item could still be used, it was.
This has translated into my life in the following way... I see something that I don't need at that moment, but I want to have it "just in case the one that I already have, dies", or "just in case the store runs out and doesn't have it when I need it". Then what happens is that the original item either never dies, so I continue to have a spare (or two, or three) hanging around...or I decide to use the new item, but the original item is still useful, so I can't possibly throw it out. (Which would probably explain the W*nnie the P*oh, Batm*n, and Power R*nger comforters, among other things, that I haven't been able to part with)...sigh.
At times I have circumvented this dilemma in the following way...I take the still useful item and donate it either to a friend, neighbor, or a charity. I can justify getting rid of a 'perfectly good _______ (fill in the blank)...if I know that someone else will continue to use it and get some enjoyment from it. But that only works when I am ready to replace the old item with the new. Sometimes I just not ready to 'let go' of an item...usually for sentimental reasons, yet it needs to be replaced. Then I end up holding on to both (see the above comforters) items.
It's only when I get fed up with the clutter, or I am thinking about having to pack up the car in case I need to evacuate (which thank goodness I didn't have to do), that this extra 'stuff' starts to bother me. Fortunately/unfortunately that's where I am now...if I can only find the time to follow through, I might actually be able to go against the lessons in frugality that I learned from my parents, and get rid of some stuff... if only...sigh. Breathe in ... breathe out.
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12 comments:
don't choke on the smokey air while you're breathing. But I so know the feeling...my family is all pack rats!
What I need is the charity trucks to come by more often. If that were the case then I could work on one room at a time and get rid of all the stuff I don't need and just donate it.
I have friends who freecycle it, but I would rather it go to charity.
I'm still trying to go against those very same lessons of "frugality" that were ingrained in me. There is also a bit of "cheapness" thrown in for good measure. Although I am not too bad, I don't think. Just broke!
Our parents lived through the Depression. I'm afraid that we may soon be living through one. Trying to stay out of politics, so I'll stop there.
On a lighter note, I'm thankful you and yours didn't have to evacuate.
I hear you. One nice thing about moving every few years is that the process of packing and unpaking everything we own causes me to down size.
Sometimes I laugh at myself because of the things that I can't live without during the packing up process - end up being useless garage during the unpacking phase.
I'd offer my services only, as we both know, I'm as "frugal" as you are about keeping perfectly good stuff. Maybe we need to enlist the assistance of Elle and Sport...they're not so sentimentally and frugally attached to a lot of these things.
Lynn, doesn't clutter = character?
Frugal is okay, just keep an eye on value. The better value often means the lower true cost.
Throwing out stuff can be cathartic!
One of the easiest ways to reduce clutter is to move. We made at least three trips to Good Will before our move. I know I should have donated more, but it is hard to part with everything in one swift motion.
I have a problem with that, too.
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