Hidden Treasures

A story in a local newspaper shed light on the challenge of “stuff”.  The reporter wrote about a woman who is faced with clearing out her mother’s home.  The mom lived with her sister for over 60 years.  That’s 60 years of stuff from essentially 2 independent women.  The mom was married and had several children and subsequently multiple grandchildren and great grandchildren.   The sister in law worked as a buyer for an upscale clothing store.  Now, the daughter/niece has to determine what to do with all the items so that the house can be sold.  This is a very time consuming task. 

The article quoted several Professional Organizers.  Both said the same thing- look over the materials and select a few things to bring into your own home.  Do you really need all the love letters from World War II or will a few suffice?  How many sets of dishes do you want to bring into your own home?  If you don’t know the people in the photos, do you really need the picture?  Many of us had scrapbooks, before scrapbooking was a “thing”.  I recently looked at one of mine and realized the greeting cards I saved were meaningless and my kids wouldn’t know the senders; I put the books into the trash.  One less thing for my kids to do when I am no longer around.

There are people in the community who can use dishes, pots and pans, etc.  As responsible adults, we can make those decisions now so that our loved ones won’t be saddled with the task later.  If the children and grandchildren already have their own homes, they probably do not need another set of dishes or pots. 

Schedule a few hours each week to go through a closet, a chest, a few drawers.  Get rid of the extra stuff now by selling it, giving it away or throwing it away.  I’m not talking about being a minimalist; I am talking about freeing oneself of things/clutter/old and outdated items.

There’s lots of talk about food cleanses/ detox now.  Whether or not they work is another topic.  A “stuff” detox, however, will be very helpful to your loved ones.