Of Stuff And Three Questions

This past weekend I made my monthly trek back to The Ranch for a house check in and stopping in to various people. My Aunt continues to do well for someone who is undergoing chemo and almost died last year, which is encouraging (and honestly, a major reason for me to continue to go back).  I pulled down a couple of hanging signs The Ravishing Mrs. TB had indicated we should keep.  And stopped by to see Uisdean Ruadh.

Over an Angry Orchard Cider (pretty good stuff!), we chatted about this and that - one of the "this and that" things being, of course, the eventual sale of The Ranch and the high likelihood that the Cabin may no longer be for rent.  He has been working on alternatives and as we discussed those alternatives, he mentioned that he was in the process of organizing and in some cases getting rid of things like books which, although he enjoyed (and has a large collection of paperbacks dating to the 1960's from his father), he simply is not likely to get back to look at again.

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I have written before on the challenge that I have found and am finding with my relationship with "stuff" in my life, especially after relocating to a small current living arrangement.  1.5 years into that arrangement, I do not know how much "better" I have gotten with it.

Arguably I have managed to "slow down" the incoming amount of things, handy in an era where the cost of things continues to increase, and driven mostly by a combination of time (I really do not have the time of pick up more than I have going on now) and the space to put or do them in.  

But "not bringing more in" does not change the fact of "the amount of things I still currently have".

Part of this as a driving factor is simply the experience with my parents' house, where in the end we essentially had to outsource the getting rid of stuff (after we took what we wanted), partially due to the sheer overwhelming nature of the amount of stuff.  That is not something I would like my heirs to have to deal with.  The other thing - frustrating to me who likes a level of order in things - is simply that I do not like piles and stacks (almost as much as I loathe the idea of too many drawers or closets:  they are just places to put things out of the way to forget them).

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At some point, assuming all things remain equal and things do not completely fall apart economically, the apartment is a temporary place and we will have a more permanent home somewhere.  And hopefully that home will effectively be "the home" until such a time as I do not need one at all. I would dearly like that relocation to not be a "dumping all the things from here into there" without some kind of forethought as to what stays and what goes.

If the example of my elders is any indication, there is less and less need for "things" beyond the basics of living as one goes.  Things tend to remain because they either have nostalgia value or they are simply not thought of anymore.  My goal is to try to do something a little more than ridding myself of things via inertia.

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It occurs to me that it might be worth making a goal out of seeing how much I can unburden myself of in a year.  That is not a strong commitment, but it is something worth considering: what if I made a solid commitment to a combination of "Buy Nothing January" for the whole year (or as near as I could) and "Get Rid of as much as I can" over the same period of time?

There are only three questions needed:  Do I use it now?  Will I ever use it?

And the most challenging of all, Am I strong enough to let it go?