stuff

If I could go back and give my 20year old self some advice, I would say DONT ACCUMUALTE STUFF. Stuff builds up. Before you know it, you are fifty/sixty/seventy years old and there’s more stuff in your house than you can deal with. We have had several declutters over the years, ruthless declutters but still it builds up. I have a fairly firm grip over the house but it still creeps in. After the last declutter, I try a one out one in system of stuff. But there’s that kitchen utensils that we cannot live without, or the bargain in the sale. And before you know it, you need to reorganise the kitchen as there’s no room for the must have piece of stuff that was on offer.
Sometimes I think back on how much stuff we have bought over the years and how much that stuff cost. How rich we would be if we hadn’t bought that stuff. And then the hours spent maintaining that stuff with cleaning, mending, packing up to move, unpacking, and tidying it. How easy life could be without stuff. How I long for sleek, stylish minimalism.
Then there’s the clothes stuff. I once, during a big sort out, counted the number of black trousers and leggings I owned. It went into double figures. Really, is that necessary??? How did it happen? I clearly made a conscious decision to buy each pair, knowing I already had others. Had I been hitting the gin before pressing submit on that online order. And exactly how many t shirts can a person need in one season? And don’t let me even start on scarves and gloves. Or shoes and handbags.
But by far our biggest problem is the garage. Not my domain so I have little say in what happens. The garage is full of stuff. Most of it I have no idea what it’s for but “it might come in handy one day”. Drawers full of wires and plugs, just in case. Tubes of stuff for the little job that might need to be done. Several buckets of different sizes, trugs, rubble bags, plastic bags, boxes (plastic and cardboard) ropes, spanners, hammers, saws, and dozens of power tools, ladders.......need I go on.
So I would tell that twenty something person about the insidious dangers of stuff and hope she takes the advice.