STUFF! To Have or Have not…

Do you have a lot of stuff? Are you trying to find places for your “new” stuff, but are having trouble due to so much “old” stuff being in the way? Does dealing with your stuff take up a lot of your time? You have to get it, sort it, carry it around, find a place for it, clean it, and finally get rid of it! Notice that we hardly ever actually repair our stuff anymore. Except for cars and houses,most stuff is disposable, and in fact - becomes undesirable to have around due to the nature of the snazzy newer stuff that we would rather have…

Your stuff has a story.

The story of your stuff and my stuff starts with the Earth, the free bounty of which is extracted by someone who knows that you want more stuff. These natural resources- from iron for cars & stainless steel bottles to silver for jewelry and photos or trees reaped from precious forests to make paper & lumber are transported and transformed so that you can have your stuff.

Coal taken from dynamited mountainsides, oil extracted from threatened habitats are used as the energy needed to make the stuff we all consume.

The story of our stuff ends with waste–the stuff we tire of and eventually toss-the “waste stream”-which ends up in landfills, incinerators, or someone else’s backyard where they must deal with the messy, dangerous and deadly consequences of our wastefulness.

There are ways we can do better–for the planet and for our future.

I am currently very aware of my stuff because I am moving out of a home I stored stuff in for over 14 years! It is a big house, and somehow over time my stuff expanded to fill all the spaces allotted for stuff. I confess that much of the stuff is hard to get rid of. It might come in handy when I find my next house. It might even be original art, craft - or is certainly good looking & usually of very high quality. It is filled with history and indeed - has a story to tell. Yes,these are the reasons I am now packing dozens of boxes with my stuff. I am of course - not going to be like those people who rent a storage unit only to find that after 10 years they have not looked into those boxes, used much or even any of their stuff,and yet - must hold onto it!

Ok, so I don’t know how this will turn out - perhaps I will let you know later, or maybe I will be so embarrassed by my lack of ability to deal with these of piles stuff that I will never reveal what has happened to my boxes of stuff. What I do know - is that I began to NOT buy any more stuff several years ago. Somehow I found out I could do without more stuff. I have been wearing the same clothes and shoes, using simpler and older versions of techy stuff, fewer tools & kitchen stuff, and generally getting by without new stuff! Oh, yes - I fall off the wagon occasionally - especially when I smell the scent of a bargain or sale. But, I am a recovering Stuffaholic and want to hear your story too.
Starting today, you can rewrite the story of your stuff. Tell me what you have done to reduce your stuff, help me out here!
And - more importantly - let’s celebrate Earth Day together by not buying any stuff at all - Including gas for our cars. Now - that is a great way to begin making our future - a future beyond stuff.
Happy Earth Day!