Here's the challenge: "the proper amount of trashing or keeping." What's proper for one may be improper for another. I do not want to count how many times we have downsized to what we thought was minimal and proper only to accumulate more over the ensuing years. And here we are again in the midst of a move that started last June and will be completed this June. This time a big move, selling a house and a lot of stuff in it, giving a bunch away and keeping some, and moving to Mexico. I have a sense we should jettison even more. There's a post here on Substack from Leyla Kazim "in pursuit of less" which speaks to the issues many of us deal with off and on, time and time again. As we go through yet another sorting, tossing and keeping exercise I am about to conclude we could have gotten rid of even more if we really put our minds to it and established some kind of goal. What if I imposed a percentage limit on what I was allowed to keep? What would have the most value and why? Now all I need is the discipline to do that. I know how less is more.
Just read your piece at Wordpress. I guess you bought another house after your “on the road again” adventure. Hope all is going well with this next transition.
Thanks, Katherine. I had several pieces on WordPress about being on the road again and yes, we bought our last house 4 years ago and sold it last month. We rent a villa in Mexico and we are not interested at this stage in our lives of owning another house, paying the expenses including insurance and taxes, and maintaining it. This latest transition, still in process, will conclude with the move next month or first of June. There will be more transitions of different kinds in the future, including the final transition.
Katharine, are you into dream interpretation? The Jungians would like your dream about adopting another cat! As for hoarding, that never-ending onus, I have an "office" where I try to contain it, and throw stuff, not to be thought of until a few weeks later when I muster the courage to tackle it and immerse myself for hours, then emerge dizzy but cleansed and feeling accomplished and victorious until defeated in the next battle. I am afraid there is no solution as long as there are enticing newspapers, books, unopened mail, still potentially useful but malfunctioning appliances, and old photographs to scan. This weekend there is allegedly a garage to tackle.
Thanks, Jim. I’m afraid I don’t even do that much. The only thing I try to do is avoid acquiring any more. Not always successful, and I definitely subscribe to an over-abundance of reading material. And yes, I’ve dabbled in some dream interpretation but honestly believe it will all proceed according to some benevolent plan over which I have no control. Today the plan includes a second visit from grandson to savor. Let’s see how that works out.
I too have a surfeit of what the Hobbits called "mathoms" and at the age of 73, I have begun to throw stuff out. Selectively. I choose one of the boxes that got filled with stuff when I had to empty my office so the guys could replace all 3 windows. Firs I donated 5 bankers boxes of vinyl records. Last week I had to make room for the coat tree so I opened a box and threw almost everything in it in the trash. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt.
I’m in awe. But I have to tell you at 78 I still have the small stuffed bear I had as a baby. And that’s through many moves. Sometimes I think my current hoarding may be a reaction to all that uprooting as a child. But sister Susie seems better at discarding. She, too, is doing the downsizing tango right now. But she lives far away so I will hear the results by phone.
Here's the challenge: "the proper amount of trashing or keeping." What's proper for one may be improper for another. I do not want to count how many times we have downsized to what we thought was minimal and proper only to accumulate more over the ensuing years. And here we are again in the midst of a move that started last June and will be completed this June. This time a big move, selling a house and a lot of stuff in it, giving a bunch away and keeping some, and moving to Mexico. I have a sense we should jettison even more. There's a post here on Substack from Leyla Kazim "in pursuit of less" which speaks to the issues many of us deal with off and on, time and time again. As we go through yet another sorting, tossing and keeping exercise I am about to conclude we could have gotten rid of even more if we really put our minds to it and established some kind of goal. What if I imposed a percentage limit on what I was allowed to keep? What would have the most value and why? Now all I need is the discipline to do that. I know how less is more.
https://garygruber.com/less-is-more/
Just read your piece at Wordpress. I guess you bought another house after your “on the road again” adventure. Hope all is going well with this next transition.
Thanks, Katherine. I had several pieces on WordPress about being on the road again and yes, we bought our last house 4 years ago and sold it last month. We rent a villa in Mexico and we are not interested at this stage in our lives of owning another house, paying the expenses including insurance and taxes, and maintaining it. This latest transition, still in process, will conclude with the move next month or first of June. There will be more transitions of different kinds in the future, including the final transition.
Katharine, are you into dream interpretation? The Jungians would like your dream about adopting another cat! As for hoarding, that never-ending onus, I have an "office" where I try to contain it, and throw stuff, not to be thought of until a few weeks later when I muster the courage to tackle it and immerse myself for hours, then emerge dizzy but cleansed and feeling accomplished and victorious until defeated in the next battle. I am afraid there is no solution as long as there are enticing newspapers, books, unopened mail, still potentially useful but malfunctioning appliances, and old photographs to scan. This weekend there is allegedly a garage to tackle.
Thanks, Jim. I’m afraid I don’t even do that much. The only thing I try to do is avoid acquiring any more. Not always successful, and I definitely subscribe to an over-abundance of reading material. And yes, I’ve dabbled in some dream interpretation but honestly believe it will all proceed according to some benevolent plan over which I have no control. Today the plan includes a second visit from grandson to savor. Let’s see how that works out.
I too have a surfeit of what the Hobbits called "mathoms" and at the age of 73, I have begun to throw stuff out. Selectively. I choose one of the boxes that got filled with stuff when I had to empty my office so the guys could replace all 3 windows. Firs I donated 5 bankers boxes of vinyl records. Last week I had to make room for the coat tree so I opened a box and threw almost everything in it in the trash. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt.
I’m in awe. But I have to tell you at 78 I still have the small stuffed bear I had as a baby. And that’s through many moves. Sometimes I think my current hoarding may be a reaction to all that uprooting as a child. But sister Susie seems better at discarding. She, too, is doing the downsizing tango right now. But she lives far away so I will hear the results by phone.