Saturday
afternoon I arrived back home in VA, driving an SUV stuffed with
shopping bags. Scott and I had a great time with our traditional Black
Friday shopping spree. One might think we enjoyed it a little too much
when looking at the sheer mass of our loot. (In our defense, the
packaging for baby toys is considerably larger than the plastic or plush
trinket inside!) Schlepping everything inside the house, it became
abundantly clear: we have too much stuff.
Surveying
the tables, counter tops and book shelves in my living room and kitchen
quickly revealed the issue. While we are not outlandish consumers, we
do tend hold onto things far past their prime. We certainly aren't
hoarders, but neither Scott nor I (and now Robby) are particularly good
at purging "collections."
Our kitchen counter tops,
spacious and beautiful, are concealed beneath the mountains of papers.
Most are paper copies of bills we pay and receive electronically. We
have another three stacks of catalogs, carefully separated into piles
determined by my enjoyment of the publication. I don't know why I save
them. Despite my intentions of running a hot bath, pouring a mug of hot
chocolate to sip while leisurely paging through them during a long hot
soak, I know it will never happen. I'm lucky if I can rummage through
one or two in the bathroom.
The desks in our dining
room have been converted into a real life Jenga board with items
teetering on the brink of collapse. Expired snack sized bags of Cheetos
that were never eaten because I no sooner found them in bulk, that Robby
declared himself to be more of a "Pringles" man are scattered
helter-skelter. I have several half used cans of powdered baby formula
in assorted brands and sizes that cannot be donated because they have
been opened. I have held onto them in case we need to switch brands
again.
And the art supplies--don't even get me
started! I have shoe boxes full of unwrapped and broken crayons, kept
because someday we might melt them into molds. Scraps of paper holding
Robby's doodles (primarily happy faces) are everywhere. Markers without
lids, lids without markers, and old glue sticks have filled at least
four mason jars. (There are probably more jars but I haven't yet
attacked the pile of construction paper in the corner.
We
bought new towels on Black Friday because the last time I acquired new
towels was when I graduated from high school in 1992. I tried to put
them away in our linen closet to be met by an avalanche of linens.
Pushing my shoulder against the door to keep it from opening because of
the force of the pile, I realized we needed to change. Christmas is
right around the corner which is going to add to the clutter.
I
have decided that every day from now until Christmas, I will throw out
at least one bag of trash or donate a bagful to charity. Slowly we'll
make a dent in our clutter. I'm hoping that, in this case, slow and
steady will clean the house!
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