I've lived in this house now for about 3 years. When I started thinking about moving (well before it was even close to reality), I started looking around at all the stuff I had accumulated. Much of it was fairly well organized, but much of it was also rarely used. In the house I had stuff stored in the basement, a storage room in the attic area and closets, drawers, etc. with more rarely used stuff.
In the garages, I had even more. The smaller garage was a 2-story and the second story was a sorry state of equipment, building materials and general mayhem that I kept "in case I ever needed it."
Before moving, I threw a lot of it away - for many weeks I had mountains of garbage to rival my neighbor's.
It was hard to throw away some of my treasures, but as moving became more real getting rid of stuff that had sat for so long felt pretty good.
After moving, I was determined to not let it get to that state again.
Over the last few weeks, I've been reorganizing some rooms; making better use of the space in the basement and allowing for a "guest" bedroom - which really means a bedroom for me most of the time. This prompted some second looks at what has not been touched in the last three years. In place of much of the borderline garbage at my old house, this time it was mostly usable. I frankly didn't have the energy to sell much of it, and didn't want to landfill it...yet. There are many people who have not yet learned the third rule of life. I thought about putting stuff like complete fishtanks including wooden stands on Craig's List, but I really don't relish the idea of people who want free fishtanks coming to my house. I put them on the bulletin board at work and the response was frightening. I can only hope the stuff brings them more pleasure than it did me, sitting in storage for years.
Since I rarely dress in anything but casual attire, a recent wedding prompted me to look at some clothes, my nice clothes that rarely get worn. I realized that after sitting for so long, many of them had smaller stains and a general very dingy appearance. I was keeping them only because they were expensive when I bought them, but in their present condition, I would never be able to wear them at the times one might need sunday-go-to-meetin' clothes. They are in purgatory until a wash determines whether they should be kept or meet the big truck on a Wednesday.
At the same time this is happening, I also find myself unable to throw away stuff. Furniture from the room to become the guest bedroom is now in the basement and the pole barn. If I was truly able to live what I believe, I'd have a bonfire. The end of Windows XP means the perfectly functional computer I am typing this on will eventually become a security risk, albeit slight. It isn't powerful enough to run Windows 8; can I justify the cost of Windows 7 for the remainder of its support life?
Microsoft is encouraging the increasing of piles of stuff.
More stuff tends to clutter life, not improve it. I often find more enjoyment out of getting rid of something that hasn't been used in a long time, over buying something new.
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