I've been sorting through stuff this evening to pack for shipping and I can't believe the amount of junk we've accumulated in the two years we've been here. Where does it all come from? We aren't shopaholics (well maybe a little bit, but only a little), we live on a fairly tight budget and we've been aware the whole time that whatever we buy we'll have to either ship or leave here, and yet we seem to have twice as much stuff as we came with. And that's despite a cull or two in the last year or so.
I've been dividing things up into different sections - clothes (not too many for me, more for David, lots for Evie); books (lots for all of us and much more than we brought); kitchen things and dishes (OK, I admit that's mostly mine and I have acquired some really nice things since we've been here); paperwork (I think it's practicing spontaneous generation!); and misc bits and pieces (way too much of that too - and I'm not sure what some of the things are or where they came from).
I keep trying to simplify my life, cut down on the junk I own and rid myself of unnecessary mental clutter, but it slips back so easily - it seems to be a lifelong battle. There always seems to be something that I "really, really need" or that I feel will make me happier. Sometimes I wish I could just retreat to a cabin in the woods and live like a primitive but I have a husband who loves his creature comforts, and to be honest so do I, so I have to reevaluate my life on occasion (moving is an excellent time to do this) and decide what in my life is really important. I sometimes wonder how I would feel if our house were to burn down or be catastrophically flooded but there really is nothing I own that I can't live without (they say three moves are as good as a burn). There are a few things like family photos or items with sentimental value that I would feel bad about losing, but as long as I know my husband and daughter (or any assorted pets we might have) are safe and happy, there is no object more important to me than that.
That is not to say that I'm not going to continue sorting through our stuff, cause I'm not ready to do without everything just yet. I am trying to be brutal though and follow William Morris' advice to have nothing in our homes that is not either beautiful or useful.
Wish me luck!
I've been dividing things up into different sections - clothes (not too many for me, more for David, lots for Evie); books (lots for all of us and much more than we brought); kitchen things and dishes (OK, I admit that's mostly mine and I have acquired some really nice things since we've been here); paperwork (I think it's practicing spontaneous generation!); and misc bits and pieces (way too much of that too - and I'm not sure what some of the things are or where they came from).
I keep trying to simplify my life, cut down on the junk I own and rid myself of unnecessary mental clutter, but it slips back so easily - it seems to be a lifelong battle. There always seems to be something that I "really, really need" or that I feel will make me happier. Sometimes I wish I could just retreat to a cabin in the woods and live like a primitive but I have a husband who loves his creature comforts, and to be honest so do I, so I have to reevaluate my life on occasion (moving is an excellent time to do this) and decide what in my life is really important. I sometimes wonder how I would feel if our house were to burn down or be catastrophically flooded but there really is nothing I own that I can't live without (they say three moves are as good as a burn). There are a few things like family photos or items with sentimental value that I would feel bad about losing, but as long as I know my husband and daughter (or any assorted pets we might have) are safe and happy, there is no object more important to me than that.
That is not to say that I'm not going to continue sorting through our stuff, cause I'm not ready to do without everything just yet. I am trying to be brutal though and follow William Morris' advice to have nothing in our homes that is not either beautiful or useful.
Wish me luck!
Ah, so many beautiful/useful things, so little space to put them - I hear ya, I hear ya!
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