Okay, I'm struggling again with how much digital stimulation is too much. Joseph is so happy and so easy when he has TV, computer, or his PSP football game. It gives me time--it gives me a bit of space--But it also creates a need for more and more. Once he has a little, he just wants more.
But for today, and for this week, we are indulging. We will pay for it later.
On the other hand, Alex is only happy with a friend by his side. It is spring break so I'm home more than normal and Alex is enjoying his friends when at home and tolerating my meetings and classes when he has to go to school with me.
Meanwhile, I'm still packing and sorting into the donate pile and the recycle pile and the save pile. Dave is buying boxes for me--I told him fifty... I sure hope that is enough with what I already have. How did we get so much stuff? Can it all really be necessary? How do we simplify our lives in the 21st century? Do I need all these books? All this china? Does Dave need to save his stamp collection? His art project from 4th grade? Do I really need my baby doll?
Obviously, these are all retorical questions--but planning a move certainly makes one sort through the storage places in our houses. Thank goodness no one ever makes me sort through the storage places in my mind--Those are filled with even more obscure and useless stuff!!!
3 comments:
I am a cautionary tale of stuff. First, our house was flooded by a hurricane and we lost half of what we own. After the initial shock of it, it was stunningly freeing. Hey! We lost half our stuff, and it hardly matters at all! We moved a scant 5 years later, and MY GOD we had too much stuff. The moving guys had to come back with a bigger truck, and that is after I did all that work you are currently doing! Staggering. Because we hadn't found a suitable house in the new town, we moved into an apartment with just what I thought we'd need for the next three months, and all that STUFF in storage.
That was a year ago. We've been living on roughly 1/6 of our stuff for a year. Sure, we had to supplement here and there along the way (like get coats, for example), but we've literally been without most all of our stuff all that time with nary a blip. Why do I have all this stuff??
Now we're about to move it again. Still boxed, at least, so that I won't have to do quite as much work (until we get where we're going). So I definitely feel your pain. I need to sort and donate again. You will find that, what seemed indispensable a month before the move, will be in the donate pile a week before the move if you haven't packed it already. ;) Bear that in mind: leave the husband's stuff for last!
Have you seen that guy on TV that helps people organize their homes? He makes these people get rid of anything that they even pause about. Rather harsh, but I'm going to try this tactic as I get ready for our garage sale. It is so easy to accumulate stuff and so much of it is unnecessary!!
Of course you don't need any of the THINGS THAT DEFINE WHO YOU ARE... ;-)
Jerry
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