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Maybe if each household was made to reduce everything they own to just the bare essentials, and donate the rest to the same charity everyone else did, our World would share the haves with the have nots. This charity would in turn distribute to those in dire need. When one is stripped to their very essence, not many material objects, just a few necessary items and a few pieces of clothing, it is the coldest, most fearful, and most freeing feeling. None of the complications of the outside world. Just yourself and your imagination, trying to pass each second as it ticks by. I didn't say the freeing had to be filled with joy, but it is felt. We don't all get to go through this transformation. Many people live their whole lives comfortably before they pass on. Nonetheless, there are those who are incarcerated, or those that lose their jobs, families, homes, and cars and are homeless, nothing but the clothes on their back. They can't get a job because of the way they look and they look the way they do because they can't get a job. It's a viscous circle.
If we all cleaned out our homes as if we were getting ready to move, what would we come up with that has been cluttering our lives, and holding us down? Start in the garage. Okay, we don't need this air conditioner. There's nothing wrong with it, it's just too small to handle the footage of the down stairs, so there it sits. Donate. We have two toasters that work, but we bought a better one recently. Donate. Our last refrigerator was too small, yet takes up a lot of space. We don't run it, it's too expensive. We haven't used it in years. Donate. Our kids are in their twenties and on their own. Plastic sleds be gone. Scrap wood is always fun, since the man of the house always seems to think he might someday need a piece of wood just that size, but he never does. Get rid of it. The first push lawnmower that hasn't been used since we got the lawn tractor.
Our oldest is twenty three but we are still hanging onto the crib mattress in the rafters. Do you think the mice had enough of it? Get rid of it. No one needs four hammers, eight screwdrivers, two shovels, two rakes, but, those we must keep! It appears, those ARE bare essentials! Twelve paint cans with enough paint in each to cover a quarter. Get rid of them. Thirty five candles with enough wax to burn one more minute. Get rid of them. The more we clean out now, while we still can bend over, the better off we will be when we can't. Baseball bats, balls, catchers mitts, gone, gone, and gone. Coats from the 70's with suede and fur. Out, i say. Six Styrofoam coolers the mice made condos out of, get rid of them. Seven thousand nuts, bolts, nails, screws, and washers. Get plastic containers with drawers and separate them so you can actually find what you're looking for in a sane amount of time. Winter tires that "some one" can use, but haven't, in twelve years. Get rid of them. Clean out those bedroom closets. No one has really seen the floor in quite a few years. GI Joe's are lurking, waiting to put enough Lego's together to escape. I can't even imagine my daughter's closet with Barbie's and Ken's! All those hours of quiet bliss while my youngest played with all his plastic! His imagination was getting stronger, as my eyes were drooping lower.
Seven kids coats emerge, all years too small for the young adults who have grown and left all their "stuff" behind. Broken nintendo paddles, 2,000 crayons between three kids, enough puzzles to wallpaper all the houses on the street. Get rid of them. Paperwork from every year, canceled checks, tax forms, if they're too old to hold onto, get rid of them. This is my plan for the coming year. I want it all gone. I don't want to worry about it when I can't see, stretch, hear, or climb ladders. I want a clear path for the vacuum, no dust, no dirt and nothing in my path. Twenty one years of "things" have to be gone through and "rearranged", either they're important enough to stay, or they're outta here.
My dream is to open every closet and have it nice and neat and empty for eventual guests. (I'll wait while you laugh with me!)
There are three bathrooms, which means three vanities with lots of room underneath. I wonder if shampoo goes bad? Thirty bottles of shampoo, fifty of conditioner, (I don't get the correlation either) make up I don't wear, and on and on. Use it or lose it. A stripped down house. Vacuum through, dust with the swifter, wash the floors, clean the bathrooms, and wala, a clean house. Knick knacks have to have sentimental value, or be really, really nice to keep. Dusting must be cut down to a minimum.
Three kids who would not use the same towel twice! Laundry is like a monster to me, I detest the thought of doing it, folding it, and finding a place to put it. In my new "bare essential" home, there will be a place for everything in every bedroom, and laundry will no longer haunt me in my sleep. There won't be corners filled with things there is no spot for. My dining room won't be a catch all until we get the plywood for the attic, and add some much needed storage.
All the kitchen cabinets must be "bare essential" friendly. Teriyaki sauce from 1990 can go. The kids sippie cups can either be saved for the grandkids, or tossed in the trash. If there are three different kinds of dishes, three of one, two of another, maybe I should just get rid of them and get a box of eight or twelve at Wal-Mart. Add matching bowls and glasses and new silverware, and the kitchen is done. So, I have a dream. It's not climbing Mt. Everest, but it is a leap of Faith. I'll give you a hint why; when you open either of my son's closets, things fall out, things are growing, and it's going to have to be one of my better days to tackle them. The best advice I could give newly married couples is to try and keep things at a bare minimum, while still enjoying your home. Clutter never stops being just what it is, clutter. I think I'll wait until tomorrow to tackle mine
Yeah. Do you think there is some magic age at which we start to feel this way? When we are younger and have more energy and the joints don't creak so much, is it easier to deal with clutter?
At any rate, you are right about sharing our multiples of things with those who don't even have one of. We've been doing just that lately. Is it something in the air? We have a really huge basement and it has just accumulated stuff over the years. One of our "shames" is a water heater that has a bad pressure relief valve. Why on earth did we keep that?
Your article made a bright and light feeling inside of me. The thought of unburdening myself of more stuff is uplifting. Thanks.
at 52, i want this 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath home to be free of clutter and junk, because i know i'm not going to be able to do it for too many more years!
at least we have a truck set up in the a&p parking lot for clothes and shoes and 17 handbags, etc. i bring everything there. someday.....it'll be done!
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