Too much stuff

Nag, nag, nag. The excess stuff hidden around the house nagged for my attention. I vowed to do something when I had time. I never had time until the day a long distance friend called. “Joan, I had the funniest dream about you last night. You had all this stuff. I had to tell you, ‘you have too much, get rid of it.’”I laughed and said, “I guess that is a word from the Lord. I have already been thinking about that. It is time to clear the excess stuff.”After we hung up I began the onerous task.Hubby ignored me as I made my way through the kitchen removing everything from each cupboard and drawer one at a time. He went about his own business as I cleared a tall bookcase of children’s books and interesting rocks and shells from the guest room. He said nothing as I removed excess decorations, took down pictures and loaded my car’s trunk with donations. Then I stepped over to his desk. “Now wait a minute,” he cautioned. “I am just organizing and removing duplicates,” I said. He still nervously watched my every move as I tidied his clutter. He saw the pile of my clothes I selected to donate, and he got worried. “Did you take something from my closet?”“No, but you need to pull out what you don’t wear.” He found a couple shirts that I quickly moved to a thrift store.It took a month to go through everything except the family photos. As I cleaned and cleared, I chatted on the phone with my cousin Susie. She now owns her late parents’ property and everything they owned or stored. Through the years she has removed items tucked away and forgotten in the barns and out buildings. When she cleared the basement she gave me my grandmother’s sewing machine that sat unused for 30 years. I use it often. Every time we talk she mentions another buried treasure she found and must re-home.She, like me, regularly says, “I need to get rid of stuff around here.” Others look at the task, shrug and say, “my kids will clear it out when I am gone.” I want to do what I can ahead of time to make it easier for my children. I want to be sure they don’t trash valuable items. I have heard tales of descendants filling dumpsters with everything from books to yards of fabric to antiques, appliances, unused toys and unwanted family heirlooms. “Pass it along, give it away now,” I urge folks.That’s what my mother-in-love did as she neared the end of her life. Before moving in with her daughter for hospice care, she held her final birthday party with family. She enjoyed watching as the generations claimed almost every item in her home. In one weekend they cleared the house.Often simply moving to a new place dictates a massive sorting process as it did for one son this spring. Things had accumulated over the years in the house, the garage and the yard. They did not realize just how much they had until they began setting aside their excess for a yard sale. Two yard sales later, I visited them and saw little difference. They, like me, had filled in every corner and flat surface. Moving to a smaller place forced them to ask, “Do I need this? Do I want to move it?”My mother moved and sorted dozens of times in her 40 years of marriage. The most memorable decluttering happened when we moved from New York to Arizona and then Utah. That same year the price of stamps went up a penny. Before Christmas she looked at the budget and reduced one more collection: her Christmas card address list. She had moved the list across the country. She was not packing up that information again. After that we received and sent fewer cards and had less to clear out after the holiday.Whatever the reason for clearing the clutter, when the time comes to get rid of the excess, just do it. You will never miss it.