Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The Escape Clause

I am looking for a way of escape, not from my home or family, not from everyday chores, and not from myself, but from the stranglehold of stuff that fills every room of my house. I am feeling ruthless today. I wish I had some great big boxes, I wish Good-Will was closer, I wish I had a dumpster. (I wish I didn't have so much junk!)

The advance of technology has not helped my plight to be free from my possessions. We now have a rather healthy collection of video tapes (The VCR is broken...) and a growing supply of DVDs. We are stockpiling photo CDs and computer programs and most of these really should be backed up with a "hard copy". What do I do with my box of cassette tapes now, and what will I do with our music CDs when they are no longer relevant? I have more school books than I care to admit. These should go into a curriculum sale or give away but it never seems to happen. The file cabinets... How long do I have to keep records anyhow? (I feel like I am drowning!)

On the brighter side, I did take a box of stuff out to my van. It will go to Good-Will later, and Bethany is taking her long basket and my old "pineapple" lamp. I both vacuumed and dusted the dining room and hope to move the table back in there soon. I do make may bed every day, well almost... and the laundry is washed, dried, and folded. Now we just have to put it away.

4 comments:

  1. My solution? Move. Nothing like a move to define necessity from clutter. You, my friend, are nostalgic to a fault! You love to keep it all close to you. Kids, toys, music tapes, I bet you even have vinyl records stashed somewhere. :)Salvation Army does home pick-ups, Arc of Faith sometimes does also.

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  2. "nostalgic to a fault" Hmmm... I will need to think on this one.

    I told Shelly I think I want to move into an apartment. She said, "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." Actually, for having had seven kids I'm likely faring pretty well, but really need to clear out again. Flylady's "27 fling boogie" is sounding pretty good right now. If only I could find the garbage bags... ha, ha!

    Oh, vinyl records... No I think I sold those in a yard sale 15 years ago. (I really don't keep everything.)

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  3. I seem to have a similar problem. No vinyl records in my house either!!!LOL!

    Any 8-tracks out there?

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  4. Every spring I get the itch to clean out. I took 5 bags of stuff(mostly clothes)to Goodwill a couple of weeks ago. I think with the beautiful, warm temperatures comes the strong desire to unbury ourselves.

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