Stuff and the departure of stuff

[roomette]

The house. 
I have a talent.  My talent is gathering Stuff.  For someone who moves almost every year and a half, I have a tremendous amount of stuff. I feel like I get rid of it all and like a starfish, it grows back.

this time, no.

It's just...we have a two story HOUSE here.  It's huge for two people.  And up until a week ago every time you opened a

Comments

[ldygwynedd]

My husband and I have lived in the same house for 26 years. Let me tell you, that's a lot of living, raising two kids and four dogs. Seeing loved ones come in this house and leave, never to come back.

We have a walk in closet in our guest room that was really a repository of all our junk. Last weekend my husband cleaned it out and found boxes and boxes of mementoes.

I look at it and I think, how am I going to get this organized?

One tote for son, one for daughter, one for his family, one for my family, one for us (which is mostly trips we've taken).

But drudging through this detritus of living, is hard. Melancholic. Sad.

I feel as though I am dying.

And I feel like I've wasted time.

my babies grown.

My dogs dead.

My family no more.

Sometimes opening up closets is like being fileted with a reality stick.

(How's that for mixed metaphores?)

[roomette]

You know, that's exactly why I've been avoiding it. Even if it is good stuff, I still feel weird sorting through that much stuff that has already happened. My closets are filled with past lives....ideas I had about what I was going to do that shifted and who I was that shifted. And it is very weird because so much of it was clearly saved on the basis that I was going to have another baby and I didn't. So now I don't want to give away that stuff but there's no real reason to hold on to it. I think I'm going to have to go with Chamisa's idea of photographing it.

There's a part of me that reaches some critical point where I just want to throw it all out, memories or not.

[chamisa]

How sparse are you about what you own?

Not enough, probably. I'm a very sentimental person, and I enjoy having things in my house that make my home feel comfy and welcoming, that remind me of people, of travels, of periods of my life. I love books and having lots of them around me.

I am lucky, though, to be in a position where I can have stuff, because at this time in my life, I don't have to move often, and, I did not have the sort of childhood that involved frequent moves

[arielstarshadow]

The thing about the clothing is that when you're talking about starting up your own creative studio (which is what this really sounds like), having closets full of potential costumes is a good thing. Maybe the thing to do with them is find a way to organize them, and then buy some water-proof tubs in which you can carefully store them? You could label the tubs "1940's" or "Steampunk doodads" or "Renaissance gowns" or such.

[cynic51]

I consciously try not to collect stuff. I would much rather spend money on experiences (movies, concerts, travel, eating out) than acquiring things. And the things I do have I cull ruthlessly. I go through all my books and get rid of the slackers every other year or so. Ditto for CDs. Clothes culling happens less frequently since I'm not much for clothes in the first place.

I learned this from my mother as a child. Her AAUW group was having a book sale? Must be time for me to cull my books so she can donate them to the sale. Her synagogue was having a garage sale? Must be time to cull my toys. And so on.

In this respect buying a house was a terrible idea. When I changed apartments every two years I had a built in excuse to go through my stuff and get rid of it; now I have to fight to do it.

[habiliments]

I keep meaning to do this, and I keep distracting myself. BPAL circles, reading projects, anything to NOT go through the boxes and do some hardcore sorting