Are you possessed?

Today the lumberjack and I had several really good laughs. This is important to do since the stress in this house is thick like butter. As I was in the office shredding paper like Watergate, hubs kept bringing different things to me, asking if we need them still or not.

Now, bless his heart, he seriously keeps everything. No honey, we don't need to keep our bank statements from accounts we closed 20 years ago. No dear, those notes on the car repair (that we no longer own) don't matter. I am sure that person no longer works there. Nope, I am pretty sure you can throw that number away (He calls the number and get frustrated that the person doesn't have their own voice on the recording) cause the stranger that lent you that CD 14 years ago probably doesn't want the bootlegged copy back...

And it went on and on. Good thing the Lumberjack is pretty cute.

However, the one that sent me into almost a giggling fit after numerous reminders that he is a packrat & to just let this stuff go, was the Ricola cough drop. Here I am, deep in thought trying to find some information for the underwriters and I hear "Hey Honey!" I patiently look up, expecting to either grab another handful of papers to be shredded or have to look at some slip of paper to determine it's worth. "Yes, dear?" I responded. Smiling he walks up to me with this cough drop in his hand. "You want this Ricola? I think it's only about 10 years old"..." Are you possessed?" I asked.  And that my friends had me laughing my stress away. He was just joking around of course. Which leads me to point out something about our lifestyle.
We have been conditioned by our parents to be pack rats and save things. The lumberjack was born to older parents. I was born to thirty-something parents. They were raised by parents who lived through the great depression. We naturally emulated what we saw our parents do.

This multiplied itself because as our parents aged and went into independent living, they dumped all their earthly treasures on us. When we started working through their things we were overwhelmed. Repeatedly we asked why in the world did they keep this or that. Here we are, putting ourselves in the same situation with our kids.

Being business owners means we have a ton of paperwork we must keep. Some a year, some for three, some for five, some for seven, some for ten and some forever. Because we have no really good system of when we should purge these items, we just keep everything. This has flowed into our home life. I recently read an article about how this younger generation are choosing to say "no thanks!" to their parents hand me downs and generations of antiques and heirlooms. While I think it is so very sad that some traditions and family keepsakes are being ditched at the local thrift stores, I totally get why. There is no room in their lives for things they don't value.

About two years ago I was introduced to the Minimalist Movement. This helped me tremendously to shake off the guilt of getting rid of things well meaning family members had saddled me with. I literally purged 2015 things TWICE in 2015 and after 4,030 items I stopped counting. Guess what? I've still got a ton of stuff I don't know WHAT to do with so I keep it, store it, shuffle it around from one place to another and ultimately packed it into a box to take with me so I could deal with it later. While my accomplishment in purging is great, I still have work to do. I also fight against my very nature to keep this or that for "someday".

We devised a plan for the farm. We are actually gaining 4 times the space that we have here. We both want to enjoy the open space without visual clutter. The current plan is to unpack what I want to use right now. If I don't want it, it immediately gets packed into a thrift store box and we will donate twice a week if need be. If it's trashed and has no resale value it will be sent to the trash cart for pick up, if I want it but not now, we will repack it into a box clearly marked with the contents and grouped with like kind objects. These boxes will be placed on one side of the basement. If in 6 months we have not revisted those boxes, desired the contents, then they will be sent to charity. Most of these items are actually things that have a use. Office supplies, baking dishes, seasonal clothing, hunting gear, camping gear. Collectively we have very few knick knacks. A majority of the stuff in storage are things like linens, since we always have so many house guests and seasonal items. I'm confidant that we will be able to purge another 1/3 of our belongings. Why let it take up precious space if you don't love it?

Until tomorrow~ I'm packing, taping, purging!
18 days to go!