Things, Things and more Things
Posted: Tuesday, December 20, 2011
by Dianne Lehmann
Artisan Jewelry from SyZyGy
A very nice and very much older than us couple that lived across the street from us just moved out. Their children helped them significantly with the task. I don't think it could have been accomplished any other way. He'd had his hip replaced and she could barely walk anymore.
Over several days, a small rental truck came and went along with numerous cars and utility vehicles. The "lawn" (folks around here mostly landscape with rocks) ornaments were taken up along with the solar lights. The house began to feel emptier and emptier when I looked at it. I knew without knowing when they had left their house for good and that I would probably never see them again. We were on good terms for "Hi and how are you" but not as good friends. We just didn't have all that much in common.
I did see some rather odd items being purchased and that got me to thinking. I do my work-out in the living room and I face the big picture window behind our recliners. So I had a ringside seat for a small part of Saturday for the event. At one point a man left with, among other things, a partial roll of wall insulation. It was the paper backed kind with yellow fiberglass. Another person bought several five gallon buckets. There were tools too, though I don't consider those odd. All in all, I had to wonder at the things people will buy if they are cheap enough. And also, it got me considering houses.
Warning, I must digress for a moment. Some friends of ours manage a storage business. The lockers are always all occupied. Someone moves their stuff out and someone else is waiting to move their stuff in. I don't know about you, but I've always felt that if you can't store all your stuff in your own house, then you have way too much stuff. The thing about houses is that they let you accumulate things.
When Bernd (my husband) and I went back to his dad's house to pick up the car we had bought from him after he moved back to Germany and no longer needed it, part of our duty was to clear out the house of trash and get it ready to be occupied by the new owner. The fact that the house was in Hemet, California, and we were living in Arizona made the clearing out of trash a bit of a problem, but we got it taken care of. The garage was the most problematical. Bernd's dad had crammed so much stuff into it that you could have filled several commercial size dumpsters with it all. Unfortunately, quite a bit of the stuff went home with us. Why, you might ask. Because we thought it might be useful and we have a basement.
The thing is, most of that stuff is still just sitting in the basement unused. And it's been eight years since we did that. We didn't really need more screwdrivers or five pounds of binding wire. We didn't need his old stereo speakers or several partial boxes of nails and screws. We have all of that sort of stuff we might ever need. But learning certain lessons takes time.
Case in point, when my step-dad died about three years ago, Bernd and I had to clean out the mobile home he was living in. He had a tool shed full of, you guessed it, tools and screws and nails and … well, it was a lot. So what happened to all that stuff? It went home with us. Luckily, he lived only about an hour's drive from us. But now, it too is all languishing in our basement. I look at all that stuff from time to time and think that if we ever want to move, we should just have a giant garage sale and get rid of it.
That usually starts me thinking that I should just get rid of it now. So, back to houses. If we didn't have a house, we couldn't keep all those things. And believe me, they are just things. They have no meaning. If we were nomads, following the good weather, the food animals and the good foraging, we would have only the barest essentials. We'd keep only what we could carry and was of the most use to us. Anything else would be a burden.
The thing about things is that you have to take care of them. And the more things you have, the more time you have to spend caring for them. Plus, there is the worry that someone will take your things. So you have to find a way to keep them secure. Sometimes, it just all seems like too much.
Even so, I don't think I would make a good nomad. There are some of my things that I do really enjoy and would like to keep. So I'm happy for my house … but maybe not so much for the basement and the latitude it allows me. But I look at garage sales as a merry-go-round of things. I can't imagine that all that stuff finds a use. I do imagine that it sits in garages and sheds and basements and storage lockers (maybe some of it finds its way into "antique" shops) just taking up space because people can't let go of it. Sorry "Antiques Road Show," but there are no gems waiting to be discovered in my basement and I'm willing to bet that's true of most folks.
I used to keep every birthday or Christmas card that someone took the time to pick out and send to me. I don't do that anymore. My mom had a scrap book of all the cards I'd received from my first birthday until about age eight, at which time she gave the book to me with the expectation that I would continue putting all my cards in there. I did not. And quite a few years ago, in a valiant attempt to clean out the basement, I tossed that scrap book in the trash. Don't think it wasn't difficult to do, however. But in reality, it was just a thing. I wasn't my mother, now long dead and in the ground, and it wasn't the people who sent me those cards.
This is the time of year when we are all involved in acquiring more things. We receive them and we give them. I'm not saying this is bad. That would be un-American. After all, this country runs on consumerism. I just think that much of it is gratuitous and without meaning. It would be great if everyone who wanted to give me something would take the time to get to know my situation well and give me only things that I need and can use, or be comfortable with giving me nothing. While I can toss the cards in the trash with little guilt, I have considerable trouble with other things. It all just adds up to more and more clutter. I have a friend who is very militantly uncluttering her life right now. So this Christmas, I am giving her consumables. I'm getting together a few of her (and my) favorite things and I know they will be used and appreciated. I have another friend who has need of a few things for her horses and so that is what she is getting. Neither Bernd nor I really need anything this Christmas and so we are not exchanging gifts. Frankly, we haven't exchanged gifts for quite a few years. We buy what we need throughout the year and that suffices.
This article has rambled all over the place. I've covered a lot of things. But that is what the title is all about … things. And there's no end of things.
This Article has been viewed 626 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)I agree Diane. I like stuff as much as the next guy but I detest having stuff I'm not using. I like to annually clear out the clutter and donate it or have a yard sale (if there's enough). It is a joke among our friends that we are the only people they know who can actually put two cars in our two car garage...Hi Jean.
We can also put two cars in our two-car garage ... but that's mainly because we have a basement. :)
My mom once told me that if I had an item of clothing and I hadn't worn it more recently than a year ago, I should get rid of it. I tend to hang onto clothing, but if I can't remember the last time I wore it, I pass it on. With my failing memory, I had better be careful or I'll be naked in no time. :)
I really am seriously thinking about having a garage sale next spring. That would give me plenty of time to clear out the basement.
Thanks for stopping by! I know you guys are busy.
Hugs,
Dianne
Amen. We do not exchange gifts either, and for trying to be a minimalist, my reward is - my basement is full of things my grandchildren brought over for me to store for them...lolHi Elle.
Not all the stuff in our basement is ours either. But a friend's stuff only takes up a small corner.
Thanks for reading!
Hugs,
Dianne
I was a natural "anti thing" person in my youth. I have not yet understood why. Its quite complex. BUT. since I became a family man, I have noticed it does not matter how you feel about things, they simply gather about you like yipping dogs and trap you in your happiness. Loved your article.
Hi Christofer.
I spent part of my youth very anti-thing as well. Then as I got older I started collecting things. Now I seem to be in another anti-thing kind of mood. I suspect it will change again at some time. But for now, I don't mind the de-cluttering ... less to care for. :)
I do like your allusion to the yipping dogs! It is very apt and quite poetic.
Thanks for reading.
Hugs,
Dianne
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.