February 13th, 2006
Just in Case
I used to have way too much stuff. Useless space filler that I was only holding on to because I might need it someday.
Once I started chucking the irrelevant, I was shocked by how much I liked doing it. I looked at my basement which was overflowing with boxes and junk in Dr. Seuss like towers and it occurred to me that the odds were wafer thin that in all that pile there was even $300 worth of stuff I would ever need. (Would I pay $300 for a clean basement?) I realized that if I threw out all of it without even looking through it, I could surely replace anything I might miss with something I liked even better. If it was in the pile, how much could I have liked it?
That was a true landmark on my journey of getting rid of the excess. And though I didn’t just back a dumpster up to the side door, I believe that when I am finished I will have tossed out the lion’s share of the what was in my home on that day.
My household clutter comes off in layers. I remove from a kitchen cupboard all but what is essential and in a month or so I go back to the same spot and find something else that was always there but is now no longer worthy of the precious real estate.
I’ve started liking empty spaces better than full ones. There is a sense of relief when I can pass on something that has overstayed its usefulness in my world.
If I have things in my wardrobe that don’t fit me - some that I don’t even particularly like - why would I keep them when they could be perfectly clothing another woman’s frame and tastes? If I have dry goods that my family finds abhorrent, what would drive me to save them when they could feed someone who is hungry today?
I don’t need to keep those things stored up just in case. *Just in case what?* Just in case I gain weight and lose my sense of style? Just in case there is a famine, or we all start liking Rice-a-Roni?
Just in case God runs out of resources?
I am a little more free every time I get rid of something I don’t need.