Emptying the nest

The Human Behind Their Stuff

Behind every pile of stuff (or whatever you may call it) is a human wondering WTH? Why do I have this in the first place?

What am I doing with all this stuff?

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Whenever I rationalize that I really don’t need whatever piece of stuff it is, I struggle with what steps to follow next.

Do I discard, donate, sell, remove, part with, or what have you to it, so that that piece/pile of stuff is gone from my life once and for all?

As a Dubious Minimalist™, I’m here to tell you, the struggle with the departure of the stuff I’ve accumulated is real.  At least for some of us, it is.

We’re not into the big purge kind of action, nope.  It’s hard to do.   No matter who I listen to.  It starts with me, and the original urge to get the thing in the first place.

Like Ugly Shoes.  Oh, yeah, that was a buying twitch if I’ve ever done one before!

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And the books I’ve read that I bought on a whim.  Like the one that talks exactly about the compulsive twitch to buy something and then later not need it or want it and then wonder what to do with it to get rid of it.  I can talk about Anthony now, I paid my dues by buying his book.

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I wrote about that before (my Kindle made me do it), and I recently stumbled upon Anthony’s YouTube channel (which is free for the viewing…when you’re playing all weekend, BTW, YouTube is a fun way to waste the day…just sayin’).  I wondered what he was up to lately?

Was he still talking about twitching and minimizing stuff?  What does he think about decluttering anyhow?

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Huh…I’ll be damned, he doesn’t suggest right off the bat to donate the stuff?  He’s got some great points to consider.  But, dang, I’ve always felt better when I donated stuff.  Am I adding to the global problem of piling up of human stuff by doing so?

I admire guys who can give away stuff easily.  Like my Mr., he did an experiment this past month.  Our city’s garbage removal contract was renewed with a different service provider.  They replaced every customer’s garbage can with their trademarked version so they could easily recognize and collect the garbage they were supposed to, not the competitor’s stuff.  Waste not, want not?!  Whatever…

As landlords, oh, goodie, yay for us, score, right?  We were blessed with 9 extra garbage containers to haul away for free.

We couldn’t really fit them into the new company’s garbage can to toss them or recycle them, so what were we going to do with them?

Mr. put them by the road, with a handmade sign “FREE” next to the stash.  And we watched from the window to see what would happen.

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Photo Credit to http://clipart-library.com/clipart/6iy5LdgpT.htm

Within the first hour, the best can was gone.  Then within the next hour, a lady, in a small compact car, stopped and crammed 5 of them into it and drove off with a smile on her face.  We were smiling too.

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The next morning, as the sun was rising and the fog was rolling, two more were removed by a passerby.  8 gone.  There was just one standing, so Mr. rolled it back and incorporated it into his garage for holding stuff.

The garbage can giveaway project was a smashing success.  Humans love FREE stuff.

Problem solved.  Right?  Giving stuff away for free works.  That’s my favorite way to depart with stuff, I love it when an object I no longer need is chosen to be taken.  When my kids take the stuff, I’m extra happy.

Getting rid of stuff is the thing to do if you’re a minimalist.  Toss it or donate it, especially if you can’t sell it.  The theory is if you don’t need it right now, and if you can buy a replacement for it for less than $20-$30, you don’t need it – just get rid of it.

A world of items available to us for less than $20 can be found at Dollar Stores, Walmarts, and the like.  All within driving distance of every city.  Or we can have Amazon Prime deliver it right to our doorsteps.  Human consumption for material stuff is right there at our fingertips.

Everywhere.  All the time.

We’re creating the opportunities for piles of stuff to get rid of.  Someday.  When we’re ready, we’ll part with it, too.

And what’s that doing for us as a nation (world)?  It’s adding to the piles of unwanted stuff in donation centers and landfills everywhere.  Sigh…

Post Inspiration – Linda G. Hill’s One-Liner Wednesday and Susannah Conway’s #AugustBreak2019 a Month of Mindfulness – Human

PS – Have you ever put stuff at the side of the road with a free sign?  Did it work?  What was it?  Do you toss or donate your unwanted stuff?  Have you read Anthony’s book?  What did you think of his video and points about why we shouldn’t donate?  

 

44 thoughts on “The Human Behind Their Stuff

  1. Having lived in an apartment most of my life, I’ve learned to be somewhat of a minimalist. Every so often, I have to purge clothes and the things I no longer need to keep control of the belongings.

    You are correct – our things turn into piles at Goodwill or some other thrift shop that has to sort through all of our stuff. I often think about all of the stuff in this world – clothing, knick-knacks, dishes, etc. How do we keep producing and consuming and not be overrun by this?

    PS: Gawd, those shoes are ugly. ;-p

    1. You’re wise to stay on top of the stuff. Clutter happens way too easily. I cringe when I drive to the donation sites. I’m always giddy until I get there and help them unload. It’s horrific to see. LOL – those shoes are up for grabs – FREE if you’d like them…………….. ;-)!

  2. I always feel better when I know someone’s going to get use out of our stuff. (Trashcans are like gold!) We recently put the boys’ big wheels–which took them from age 4-7 or so out for free–on the morning of our July 4th parade. They got snatched up in no time. I love to imagine another set of siblings having such fun on them!

  3. We have a couple of charities we give old stuff to, because they ask for it and they come and pick it up. He makes a good point about selling things or giving them away rather than donating them. We have all kinds of stuff we need to get rid of, but neither of us is ready…

  4. The video makes some good points, but no thanks. If I were to try and sell stuff, I have to sort, organize, plan and deal with (often annoying) people. That means it will never happen.

    We have the best new service in our town for clothing. It goes in a special bag that sits next to the recycling bin. They pick it up. They sort it. They sell what can be sold and they recycle what can’t be sold. That’s four uses of the word ‘they’ as opposed to ‘I’. I just need them to expand into all the other stuff.

    1. LOL – I think you’ve hit on exactly why I haven’t done the discarding process either. That’s wonderful that they recycle clothing – that’s something I would definitely take advantage of.

  5. We have put things out on the curb that people have picked up and taken but sometimes the city tries to “crack down” on that kind of thing saying it is unsightly. We did just take a lot of our stuff to a flea market and the hubs got some good money for tools he no longer needs. I still have a lot of household items that I was going to donate but maybe I’ll try having a garage sale first 🙂 Nice post, Shelley.

    1. That’s awesome – a flea market that you can just join if you have stuff or did you have to pay? I’ve had enough thrift sales in my life, I’m not sure Mr. will support that cause. He likes the view of watching people carry off the stuff better. We’ll see though…

  6. In an effort to start our downsizing, I’ve been selling things on eBay and a couple things on FB Marketplace. I have a minimum threshold that I’m willing to sell though – it has to make a decent amount – especially Marketplace. I wish I had a dollar for every FB message I’ve gotten that says “Is this still for sale?” When I answer yes, the person ghosts. Super weird. Makes Craigslist look normal. LOL.

    And I have been going through our books and taking some to our local indie bookstore. They sort them, buy the ones they want and give me store credit. It’s great to have credit there – more books! 😉 It’s hard not to peruse their great used book section (LOL), and they also have a great gift department and yummy cafe. Win/win. The books they don’t want go to our library. They have a second hand section for sale and also a huge annual sale. That’s the easy stuff, I guess. We have lot of purging to do. 😛

    1. Thank you for sharing your take on Marketplace – I’ve wondered about that. Craig’s List kind of creeps me out a bit, so I’ve not gone their either. I love that indie bookstore, I wish we had one like that. I’d buy more though…hmm…but books are good things to buy, I love them, too. Purging is a neverending process, and then you die. And someone else has to take over. There’s that. Sigh…

  7. We did an enormous purge before moving, another while unpacking, and just finished one prior to back to school shopping (which was going REALLY slowly until I told the girl that we wouldn’t buy a single stitch of clothing until she’d gone through what was already in her closet!). It makes a difference.

  8. I’m going to read all the comments, but I just wanted to tell you I really apprecaite this blog. You are determined to hang in there with this problem most of us don’t want to face up to or talk about. I’m good at getting rid of clothing, but it’s all the other stuff! People charge $$ in NYC to haul away “junk” and when you live in an apartment, offering free stuff doesn’t have that nice characteristic of autonomy (is anyone looking while I steal this really weird-looking chair?) that pulling up in a car quickly and driving off has. I look forward to reading all the comments and hearing people’s ideas. Thanks, Shelley.

    1. Thank you, Ellen, glad you found the post beneficial. I can imagine that apartment living in NYC is a different kind of challenge. Let me know what you learned and what you’ll try. xx

    1. That’s smart to declutter first – I have high hopes to do something with stuff someday. So…the shoes are free…I’ll leave them by the road for you!?! 😉 Thanks for the link, I’ll check it out!

  9. Hi Shelley, Stuff is always an issue with me. Great, thought-provoking post. We are possibly on this journey together, getting rid of “stuff.”

    1. Hi! Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts – I think this is the time in life for this kind of stuff to happen :-)!

  10. I am a “pitcher”. I love to donate, discard, and otherwise get rid of accumulated stuff. Hubby is just the opposite. We still have a box that contains all of our canceled checks back to 1978. Think we will still need them?

    1. LOL – the balance in relationships is a great thing isn’t it. There might be something interesting in those checks to write a blog post about… ;-)!

  11. You still have those awful shoes Shelley? That’s too long! I’m beginning to fear that if you do get rid of them, they’ll show back up in your closet the next day.
    Here’s my suggestion: Put them out by the road, on a box that’s eye level for drivers (so everyone can enjoy the sight of them). Make a super colorful sign that says FREE!, maybe add some balloons to draw attention to how “special” they are. It’d be great to see how many people slow down and how long it takes for someone to grab those beauties up! LOL!

    1. Yeah, I was waiting to be scolded by you again before I get rid of them. I like your idea, I might just do that. I need to set up the trail cam in the tree next to it so we can catch the action of who takes them. Now I need to go shopping for the balloons. Wow, I like your idea!

  12. I’ve said before that I wonder how two additional people and a bird lived here in this house when I can’t find room to stuff my stuff these days. It has to be me.

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