So much stuff.

[gottawonder]

If you've been reading my posts, you'll know we've been moving a farm house onto our property, and moving out of our trailer.

Most of the stuff in our house is mine, so it's been falling to me to pack it and put it in the sea can, or put it in the farm house.

I've been moving fairly steadily for a couple of weeks now, a few boxes here, a few more trips into the house there.

I've really noticed (as always) the sheer insane volume of things we own. I now have a small bedroom upstairs in the farm house quite full of clothes and shoes. It really makes it obvious, when you see it all in the open in one place.

A lot of the clothes are very nice. Most of them fit again, and some are now too large, but I don't want to get rid of them until I've maintained the weight loss for a year. Some are clothes I am unlikely to wear, and I need to find a way to sell some of them (I feel a little sad at the idea of giving brand new clothes to the thrift store, even if it is for a good cause).

I can't really give clothes to anyone in my family, because they are all different sizes from me now.

I am blown away by how many pairs of shoes I have, even as I acknowledge that they are nice and current. I recently sent a large bag of shoes to the thrift store, and it barely made a dent.

Same with jackets.

We have an insane amount of books, and this has to be drastically reduced. We are truly book hoarders. I'm starting to think we have to have a moratorium on new books, to read what we have, and learn to pass the books on when we are finished. Though, I like to keep the very good books, as I do re-read them.

I am sitting in this farm house, looking around at it's spaciousness, and I'm sad that it is going to be full and cluttered and dirty (because when a place is cluttered, and you own cats and a dog, the dust and hair get everywhere and you can't clean it).

I spent the first half of my life feeling like I never had enough of anything, and I've spent the second half feeling overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I've accumulated.

I would like to spend the next part of my life in our new home enjoying what I have, feeling that it is enough, but also not too much.

I know that within 20 years or so, our next move will be to something much smaller, and neither of us will want to haul all of our stuff somewhere else.

I think of my friends, two of whom are now older, both with entire houses filled to the gills too, and soon they will have to confront a lifetime of stuff all at once.