Too Much Stuff

I am reading "The Art of Discarding" by Nagisa Tatsumi and it has already helped me. You couldn't tell by looking at my apartment but it literally wore me out going through accumulated junk mail and throwing things away. At some point I am expecting to feel the load of heaviness from clutter begin to lift enough to be actually noticeable. As it is, I have attempted to hide as much as possible, by, for example, putting things under the chair in the corner of the dining room. Nobody ever comes over anyway... What was so hard about it? Well, one of the questions this author looks at is "What do you find difficult to throw away and why?" The first point she talks about is the guilt of wasting. I remember my Nana used to say that. "Waste not, want not." That was the mantra of our ancestors, and it's perfectly fine for some things, but there comes a point when you have to get rid of things. Right now, I'm looking at a little string with blue and white fiber wrapped around like a candy cane. What do I need this for? Where did it come from? Where shall I put it to get it out of my field of vision? I'll put it in my sewing box, of course, which used to be a jewelry box. You see, I have always repurposed things, and that is supposed to be a good thing for the planet, right? Use it, give it away or repurpose it. Isn't that the recycling strategy? Don't just throw everything away to keep it out of the ocean, right? Or something like that. I do want to find out what I find difficult to throw away and why. I have a box ready to go to the thrift store. I have just been putting it off because I don't want to do it on Saturday, the busiest day of the week, and I've been working, so, as summer break begins in four days, I can start planning to get that box out of here and start another one. This has been my plan for years. Put stuff in a box to take to the thrift store and feeling good about it. I had a whole room full of stuff ten years ago when I lived in another town for a year. A whole room full of stuff. Things I got in Mexico, things Peggy gave me. Things I loved but never used and didn't have room for in my living area. So, they went away and I don't even remember what most of them were. Yes, there have been regrets. I gave away a red sweater that matched a green sweater that a friend in Knoxville had given me. I wish to heck I had that sweater now. But those regrets are rare. Getting rid of things usually is a relief, not a burden, while looking at too much stuff all day becomes a real burden pretty quickly. Even if you get used to too much stuff, it is gnawing at the back of your brain the whole time. Something you need to do. Why aren't you doing it? Not enough time. Too many other things to do. That is all fine, but there must be a balance. We all need rest and relaxation. Time to breathe and read and even take a nap, maybe. But too much stuff can be a real hindrance. I know people my age start thinking about what's going to happen to all this stuff when I die? Yes, we think about that a lot, I know I do. One of the things I underlined but can't find right now is, "When you are dead, it will all be trash." Did you get that? That blew me away. And, finally (I may be writing about this more in the days to come) you don't need a detailed organizational strategy when you don't have so much stuff. I think that is brilliant. That is what I have always believed, and those books have always made me feel like such an idiot. I have realized that the people who write these books are not like me and I'm not like them, but this Tatsumi person, I can relate to her. I think the next thing I'll do is get rid of the books I have about being "messy" and having a strategy to declutter and just start discarding. Anything I see. Anything I can pick up. Get this book if you can find it. I see that it is available at ThriftBooks. Have a great day!