If you haven’t watched the great George Carlin’s “Stuff” I strongly
encourage you to visit youtube and partake in this masterpiece of philosophical
comedy.
Last month we sold our medium sized house on Salt Spring Island and
moved to one, half the size, here in Victoria. The move inspired/forced us into
selling a lot of our ‘stuff’, first through an e-blast to friends, then via the
local Exchange, and finally the dreaded Garage Sale. Which wasn’t dreaded at
all, because the people of Salt Spring are so damn nice No scything of pointed
elbows or arguments about who got there first. Just civilized bargaining and
good conversation.
To
say that we felt a lightening of our load would be a massive
understatement. It was bloody great! As each item went out the door I felt more
fleet of foot, clear in spirit and strangely more able to function in the here
and now. We were about to move into 1,300 square feet and there was going to
be no room for anything that wasn’t essential or deeply loved. I said goodbye
to not only things from the house but much from my studio, I even stripped my
art out of its glazed housing—selling 400 frames in two days.
Arriving
in Victoria, the ‘stuff’ we brought with us had a common bond, it’s innate
attachment to us and ours to it. Not because it had been handed on in years
long gone or because we’d bought it before being suffused with some vague
notion of buyers remorse, but because it had meaning—aesthetic or personal.
In
those first two days, as we started fitting things into position, we couldn’t
believe how perfectly the jigsaw puzzle came together. Everything seemed to
have a place and purpose. Our ‘scorched earth’ policy of stuff reduction had
been fully validated.
Because
we have so much less now, the things in this new home seem to make more sense
than they ever did before. The house has become functional, in the best sense
of the word. We want for nothing, and we have horrid little smug grins on our
faces. And to keep the status quo, we have instigated a new hard and fast
rule—if something comes in, something has to go out.
Thank
you George, you are a bloody genius.
PS
The cats did even better than we did—they managed to make the move totally sans
stuff.
2 comments:
Love the this:" If you didn't have stuff, you wouldn't need a home, you could just walk around." Brilliant.
I've been getting rid of stuff since January and I can't stop, I just keep going and going, it's such a high! Totally. Thanks for sharing your decluttering story.
Awesome.
You may enjoy checking out the "minimalists":
http://www.theminimalists.com/add-value/
I love that feeling of being able to get rid of unneeded things ~ I'm getting to move out of my parents house and I've been slowly getting rid of things one layer at a time until I'm left with those things that mean the most.
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