Decluttering

Have you noticed how much stuff we've accumulated??? We are a people who set a lot of store on stuff, the things that we own, the things that we acquire, the things that are given to us. All of it, after a while, begins to weigh us down. I've been watching some of those house-buying shows on HGTV and I always find it fascinating how the guys want a two or three car garage for... stuff!! Not even for cars, just for all their stuff, bikes, surfboards, tools, workbenches, etc. etc. There's no room for a car at all! It's like the garage has become a massive storage locker.

I have to admit, I have a bit of a fascination with decluttering... For I too am a packrat, raised by a couple of packrats. But... I do enjoy keeping things organized! Mind you, that just makes me a disorganized packrat!! At the same time, I am shocked to watch the Hoarders show on A&E... Clearly, some people are more attached to their stuff than others, attached to the point that they will face eviction and damage to their relationships rather than give up their stuff... most of which is "junk".

So, every once in a while, I go through a bit of a decluttering purge and get rid of the stuff that I've been schlepping around for the last 20 years or 10 years or 5 years. Yes, at one point I thought, "it might be valuable someday!!" or "it might have value as a collector's item" or ... the best one of all "I might need it someday!". Truly... it really isn't worth the energy and effort it takes to haul it around, store it, move around it, etc. And I really haven't missed the stuff. But I am still a packrat at heart... always in development with decluttering!