The difficulty of getting rid of things
- Laura Moore: Housebroken
- July 9, 2024
- 727
Unpacking after a move is definitely not fun. The problem is that most of us have too much stuff.
We all talk about downsizing, but actually getting rid of things we no longer need or want is somehow very difficult. Perhaps it is a human foible.
For instance, many children have a toy box full of toys they no longer play with. Just try to clean it out and get rid of those outgrown toys and you’ll see what I mean. Kids want to
keep all their toys even though they haven’t played with them in years.
When we were children we moved rather often. As moving day approached, we kids were told to put all the toys we wanted to keep in our toy boxes. The rule was, when the boxes were full, that was it — anything that didn’t fit was given away or sent to Goodwill.
Every time we moved it was a struggle to decide what to keep and what to let go. My mother loved dolls and gave me a doll for every birthday and Christmas. I never liked dolls, they gave me the creeps. I had to keep them for awhile but when Mom wasn’t looking, we had funerals for the dolls, actually burying them at the very back of our yard. Mother never knew. When she asked where a particular doll was, I would say it probably got lost when we moved. Fortunately, Mom accepted that excuse.
Now I‘m dealing with boxes full of things. Our children are encouraged to take what they want, but so far, the boxes are still full. Over the years we have accumulated piles of old linen, table cloths, and way too many odds and ends from various family members. We don’t need any of that stuff and I have no idea why we’ve kept it all these years.
It’s time to let go! By this time next week I hope to have empty boxes that can be recycled, but we'll probably end up keeping some of them, too.