More about stuff.

[gottawonder]

As you all know, we've put another home on our property, and torn down the old one. That means a lot of our stuff is in a storage can on our property, and a lot is still in boxes upstairs (craft stuff, mostly).

For nearly six months, I haven't had access to what's in storage. A lot of books and craft things and fabric, mainly.

I haven't missed it. I do miss my books, but we keep picking up new ones as we read what we have kicking around.

I already feel like I have most of what I really need already in the house. We brought towels, bedding, clothes and such with us. I brought the movies and some craft stuff. Our toiletries. Makeup and perfume. Dishes and pots and pans.

If I were a truly brave person, I would get rid of most of what was in the storage container. I likely won't. I can understand how people end up abandoning storage units full of stuff. They likely forget what was in there, and realized that they were fine without it anyhow.

I have quite a few CD's, because I used to listen to them ALL THE TIME. That was the '90's for you. Somehow, I don't listen to that much music, but I am loathe to part with my Sarah McLaughlin and David Bowie, and so on. I think if I could just keep enough to fit in the CD cabinet, that would be okay, but I do have quite a few more in a box. I even still buy CDs sometimes. Yes, I suppose a person should do more to get music digitally, but there is something about getting an album, intended to be listen to that way.

I am having problems just getting rid of things that I don't wear or don't fit. I have a lot of jackets. A lot of shoes. I get rid of some, but I buy more. Maybe I don't spend a lot of money on clothes because I mostly buy from thrift stores, second hand, or from Winners where most of the clothes are under $30.

There doesn't seem to be much point in trying to sell clothes, the facebook buy and sell is full of clothes for sale (though I sometimes buy things). The thrift stores are SWAMPED with clothes. I try to mostly shop at thrift stores, and it's crazy the clothes they have. A lot of nice things, though there's a lot of cheap fast fashion there. There must be people out there buying mountains of new clothes to make so much donated stuff.

I can get rid of books that I didn't love. We take bags to trade in, and I kind of have an ongoing box for books that I didn't love, and they either go for trade in or the thrift store. Today I took about 25 books to the recycling depot. They have a few book shelves where people can just come get them for free. Again, we don't buy a lot of new books. We get a lot at a good used store in the city, and thrift stores, and free in various places. I don't bother with the library, because of fines.

One thing I wonder about too, is what happens to things like family pictures? It's a bit of a social experiment, isn't it. We've only really had a lot of photographs since maybe 1950, and I know many people have boxes and boxes of photos from the golden age of solid paper pictures. Will those all be lost? I can't see kids keeping many of those. Pretty much no one will care about my pictures. I may even have to throw them out myself at some point, or scan them all in and toss the material images.

I'm not a minimalist in my heart, but I love the way a room looks when there isn't too much stuff in it, or everything is put away. I know those rooms are easier to clean. I think I'd be less stressed out when I looked around the main rooms I live in and everything is tidy and not cluttered.