Why do we have so much stuff? I’ve been helping my mother move to a different apartment and I can’t believe how much stuff she has–and she has dramatically pared down from the big house she used to live in.
Is it an American thing? A human thing? We tend to hold on to things we think we might need later. I do it too, in spades! And it has me thinking, if I decide to move in a few years to a smaller place, maybe it would be a good idea to start sifting through things now and let other people take some of this stuff that I have accumulated.
Part of it is that I can see my values have changed. I bought this house about twelve years ago when I was running my sales company, had people staying with me frequently, entertained a lot, needed a lot of stuff for that.
Today, I have a very different life. Entertaining is more about spending time with a few great friends instead of having 50 people over. So I don’t really need enough plates to serve that many people. But I still have them!
So, I hereby commit to opening cabinets, drawers, closets and asking myself: do I really need this? When do I plan to use it again? Who else could be enjoying it?
I hope I follow through…………….