I desire...
organization
cleanliness
simplicity
but I can not seem to get these things.
It is hard when you own so much stuff.
It is hard when you live with a person who thinks nothing should be thrown away. Who has to consider carefully each piece of paper that his hand has ever touched, before letting it go into the recycling bin. Who thinks any printed matter has great worth, even when he already has read it and knows he does not like it and will likely not read it again.
It is hard when you have offspring. They come with a lot of accessories. Then they begin to acquire, collect and create their own stuff.
It is hard when you are the only one in your realm who wants to achieve these states. When you are the only one willing to release the stuff. To throw the things off the slowly sinking barge, in an effort to keep it and its inhabitants from drowning in the waves of things.
(originally written 7/12/07)
cleanliness
simplicity
but I can not seem to get these things.
It is hard when you own so much stuff.
It is hard when you live with a person who thinks nothing should be thrown away. Who has to consider carefully each piece of paper that his hand has ever touched, before letting it go into the recycling bin. Who thinks any printed matter has great worth, even when he already has read it and knows he does not like it and will likely not read it again.
It is hard when you have offspring. They come with a lot of accessories. Then they begin to acquire, collect and create their own stuff.
It is hard when you are the only one in your realm who wants to achieve these states. When you are the only one willing to release the stuff. To throw the things off the slowly sinking barge, in an effort to keep it and its inhabitants from drowning in the waves of things.
(originally written 7/12/07)
posted by Lady Steed at 11:34 PM
7 Comments:
I feel your pain--I seem to go through phases in my life where I want to collect stuff and other phases where I want to get rid of it. I love getting rid of stuff--cleaning out the fridge makes me feel happy, oddly enough. Mr. Fob is generally not much of a collector (he doesn't buy much), but I do have a hard time convincing him to throw or give things away once we have them.
I feel for you, but in my family I am the one with the problem. I wish I could give stuff away, but I always wonder "what if I will need it". I hope when I am stable enough in life I can get rid of it, simply because I can buy a new one (it usually is something cheap and broken or old) if I need it.
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It occurs to me that you held onto this post for most of a year. So I'm thinking it was you you were talking about.
This is why our clutter-free year in India has been so nice. Of course, we have a storage locker full of stuff waiting for us in Boston. I recommend frequent cross-country (or world) moves for decluttering.
I'll admit, I am not blameless in the clutter problem. But I will say that I have become more willing to get rid of stuff during the last year than I have been at any other time in the past. I am hoping that someday Theric will also become more willing. Right now we are on different points of the spectrum on this issue.
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Oh come now. I'm much more agreeable than I've ever been in the past. Give me that much.
And they get really insulted when you come into the room after 5 hours of their supposed packing and organizing only to exclaim in horrified panic that nothing has been changed, packed or gone. With a total of two days to pack and move. I complain because I am selfish like that.
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