Actually this is just a place for my stuff, ya know? That's all, a little place for my stuff. That's all I want, that's all you need in life, is a little place for your stuff, ya know? I can see it on your table, everybody's got a little place for their stuff. This is my stuff, that's your stuff, that'll be his stuff over there. That's all you need in life, a little place for your stuff. That's all your house is: a place to keep your stuff. If you didn't have so much stuff, you wouldn't need a house. You could just walk around all the time. -- George Carlin
I Freecycle. If you don't know what that is, it's a concept where you basically... give away your stuff, and someone else will want it! It's a way to try and keep things out of landfills. In essence, you sign up for a Yahoo group that's specific to your area. (For more information, see
Freecycle.org.
So I regularly give away crap I don't need. This week I gave away a lamp with a broken switch and an overhead light fixture that's missing a nut. (Damn cat!) But still, the amount of stuff we accumulate in our lives is incredible. I have t-shirts from my ex-boyfriends that I keep in memory of them, even though the one from Jeff didn't even fit me
then, and the ones from Andy are a bit too... blunt for me to wear in public. I have stuffed animals that were gifts from people I don't even talk to anymore! I have hundreds of books that are actually in boxes in my basement right now because I don't have a place to put them. And that's after I gave away 300+ books when I moved out of my last house!
Why do I feel the need to accumulate all this stuff? I'm one person in an admittedly small three-bedroom house, and it's completely full of my stuff! My neighbors raised families in houses the same size, and here I am, filling it up all by myself. Why do I feel the need to hold on? I mean, I don't think I'm anything close to a pack rat. I do freecycle, and donate regularly. But why do I need those ex-boyfriend shirts? Books I'm obviously not that much in need of, if they've been sitting in boxes for two years without my feeling any real sense of loss.
Sometimes I think back to when I first moved out of my parents' house, and I wonder how I survived. I had no stuff! I didn't have a TV, so I didn't have cable. I had a dial-up internet connection. I sat on the floor to type. I had a bed, a dresser, a nightstand, and one bookcase. That was the total of my belongings. In fact, I moved to CA with only what I could fit in my car plus a few boxes I shipped!
Maybe I should spend Sunday getting rid of some of my crap.
