The Keeping of Stuff

We have been very busy cleaning stuff out and making room for additional family to move into our home. So we've been going through a lot of collections of "stuff". Some of it belonging to individuals and some of it belonging to all of us and some of it we aren't even quite sure who it ever belonged to or maybe why we ever kept it.

It's rather curious the aversion to disposing of "stuff" we can develop. I've met people that could not part with a daily newspaper or magazine or even junk mail. I've seen their house with stacks of "stuff" taking over living space. Even I am somewhat guilty of keeping too much stuff around. I allow too much of a collection of papers, notes and mail to accumulate before I go through it and rid myself of it. I'm not sure why.

Why does a person hang onto junk mail? Some sort of "I might do something with this" thought before you are ready to part with it.

I have a collection of return address labels that I would never use up in my lifetime. Yet I can't throw away the next envelope that arrives with more of them in it. What about those refrigerator magnets? We have to keep those! Oh and calendars. I always have way more of them than anyone needs.

So I am in the midst of a bit of an experiment on how much "stuff" I can rid all of us of without any regrets. Of course things like photos and important records we won't dispose of but what do we really need to keep? What will we ever really do with it but move it from one garage or closet to another the rest of our lives?