I just decided to get rid of shoes and purses I don’t use anymore. Although I pledged to stop buying purses, somehow, I managed to purchase a few over the past year or two in an effort to find that elusive perfect one. I also tried a few large wallets with loops attached hoping I could to reduce the amount of stuff I feel I have to have whenever I leave the house. Of course, none of those were just right either. I definitely have an issue with stuff magically multiplying.
I definitely have an issue with stuff magically multiplying.
Four years ago, we moved from our big, old house where we lived for 45 years to a condo. In the run-up to the move, we got rid of lots of stuff. So, how did piles of stuff come back to haunt me in such a short time? There are a few things we could have left behind in the move, but during a pandemic, with most of my shopping done online, why do I still have too much stuff?
I didn’t grow up with lots of stuff. We lived in a small house which always looked neat. Of course, there was not that much available for my family to add clutter and my mother was meticulous about her housekeeping. Toys were minimal. We had a landline, stereo, and TV, which were all of our electronics. My brothers shared a small bedroom, which always looked neat. We were trained to fold and put away clean clothing so we could re-wear it, as laundry was a big deal back then. Needless to say, my bedroom was also small and I was taught to keep my things in order. Maybe the answer is that we didn’t have very many possessions to worry about.
For my kids, on the other hand, even with few electronics (anyone remember Pong or the Apple II-C?) their toys took over the house. Despite our efforts to teach them to put their things away, we spent every evening picking up toys from our family room, and their clothes often lived on their bedroom floors until I finally picked them up. Getting them to put the clean clothes from their laundry baskets into their drawers was a fail. They mostly wore the things right out of the baskets. Unlike my mother, I had a job and housekeeping didn’t thrill me. With three kids, there was just too much stuff no matter how hard I tried.
Don’t get me started about their kids, my grandkids. Their stuff “runneth over.” Everyone needs their own phone, iPad, electronic games — and this is on top of all of their toys and the clothes that carpet their bedroom floors. There is just too much out there for them to consume. I must confess that, when they were younger, I made a huge contribution to this overabundance of stuff. And I must also confess to accumulating too much stuff of my own.
So, back to today’s effort to reduce the chaos in my shoe and purse collection. In four short years, I had done it again. After accumulating a huge garbage bag for Goodwill and putting the things I actually wear or might use in order, I had a brilliant idea. If I just ordered a tote bag on Amazon, I could fit my large wallet in there, along with other stuff I need when I want to have a book or meds and cosmetics with me to go places (think the doctor’s waiting room). Sigh. More stuff.