Stuff, Stuff, and More Stuff....

Ohhh! Noooooo! Not again…trying to maneuver my way around and
through the rooms in our home…STUFF, STUFF everywhere…on the
tables, chairs, cabinets, counters, closets, floors.. Room after room of
clutter…a problem that grows like a sour dough bread starter…
unrelentless and out of control…

My husband and I are too much alike in many ways… which allows the
STUFF problem to multiply unchecked…each in our own way-- packrats…
well, let’s strike that…I think I prefer collectors…sounds more
sophisticated to the untrained ear….

When we were first married 21 years ago we lived in a nice size apartment
that quickly outgrew our STUFF…I lamented, “Oh if we only had a house
with more room, we wouldn’t be so crowded!”….Six months later we were
in our first house….six months after that we had filled each and every
room with more, exciting new STUFF…now mind you, although I am
saying new STUFF, we generally collect old STUFF…you know the kind
that is used from the thrift store, flea market or garage sale… that STUFF
is such a great bargain…and because it is usually so cheap…you can buy
tons more of it…even though we don’t need or necessarily want the
STUFF … it looks and feels cool at the time…and who knows when we
can have a real purpose for this STUFF.

Oh yeah….let’s not forget the other STUFF that comes into our lives as
well…when someone is moving and they are trying to get rid of their
STUFF they have accumulated over a lifetime…we somehow become
a STUFF magnet…whup! quick, duck your head, here comes another
piece of beaten up shabby furniture into the house….

Then there is always the person who comes and shares your driveway for
a garage sale, where most of the STUFF doesn’t sell and so their STUFF is
left for you to bring to the thrift store but somehow it never makes it there,
preferring to take up residence in your storage unit that was once known as
a garage….now let’s not forget the inheritance STUFF we get when a family
member passes on…now this is STUFF that we just can’t get rid of…
imagine what Uncle Roger would think if we gave away his collection of
old bottles that he found when he was dump picking old foundations…

Talking about dump picking….my husband has a keen eye for the treasures
retrieved from the trash or the side of the road….mind you I would never
tell anyone they are sitting on an antique chair that came from, well never
mind…and last but not least is the trash that is thrown out at work…it
could be where my husband works…where a friend of his works…or
where a friend of a friend of a friend works…Scott has definitely elevated
the art of networking to high levels…because you just never know when
you are going to need all this STUFF….

Then after two children we out STUFFed our first home….I lamented,
“If we only had a bigger house with a layout that made sense, we would
have plenty of room.” Guess you can say I am a real slow learner in
some areas…it didn’t take too long before our new house could no longer
hold all the STUFF we had….we trained our children well...they are
STUFFers too…so we bought a shed…then another…then filled the
garage…then rented a storage unit a few miles from the house...
Ok! Ok! Ok!

Now I have to admit…. I am just as bad as all the other STUFFers in
our house…I have my large collections of STUFF…my books…my stones
and crystals…my crafts…my healing tools…my gizmos and gadgets….but I
finally think I have reached my limit and I am STUFFed out!

Enough is enough!
2008 is the year to Zen-ize my life…
Simplify … Reduce… Release …

I found this great website that is inspiring for the other STUFF collectors
out there like me who have had the light bulb moment….check out
Fly Lady at http://www.flylady.net/ and see what you can do to
inspire yourself as well!

I just felt I needed to get this out there…to have it float around through
cyber space so that I can make myself feel accountable to do what I am
saying I am going to do..

The Steps I Intend to Take:

1. Go through each room as described by Fly Lady to get my STUFF
that I plan to get rid of…

2. Then what to do? To keep it out of the trash…

….Donate back to the Thrift Stores
….Give to charity or organizations that can use the STUFF
….Put what I can on E Bay

3. Take Pictures and Record the Process to help keep myself
accountable

One of the things that really got me going in this direction was the great
video that I have posted below…it is called The Story of Stuff… a
must see!

Until next time….