Posts Tagged ‘stuff’
This is a repost, here is the original post from December 2009. I have edited it to reflect where we are now with all of our stuff.
“A house is just a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get more stuff.”
George Carlin.
Stuff. It fills our lives right up to the edge. Think about all the stuff you have. Especially as a parent. You have the stuff you need and then there is the rest of it. We are so guilty of it, and by we I mean me and my husband. We aren’t the type to just shop and fill our spaces, but when you have children, and you have friends & family, stuff just flows your way. We have a house filled with stuff and we have a barn filled with stuff. Stuff we need and stuff we don’t. But we have gotten better about weeding through it all over the past few years, whittling it down. Making donations twice a year. But it can take over your life if you let it.
I don’t like to complain unless there is a good reason. I try to teach this to my children, that to complain about minutiae endlessly, as we know some kids are wont to do, gives less weight to the complaints about more important issues that need attention. The whole crying wolf syndrome and all that. My younger sister says I choose not to complain because I want to be known as the person who doesn’t complain. (This is getting confusing) I disagree with her, I just don’t see the point of excessive complaining.
However, today I do want to gripe just a bit.
It might be wordless Wednesday in Bloggerville, but I need to put this out there.
I want to thank M.D. Taz at Maternal Dementia for bringing this video to my attention.
Annie Leonard spent 10 years researching the story of where our stuff comes from, where our stuff goes, and the repercussions of it all. The price we pay as a society and the effect it has on other countries.
If you are a seasoned Green Mom/Dad, tree hugger, eco-lover, you most likely have seen this. I want everybody else to see it.
I had my two children, Max (almost 6) and Sophie (8) sit down with me to watch. I had to pause and explain some things in simpler language. But the animation kept them interested, engaged. And I know they will need to watch it a few more times throughout the years before they get it all. But they were so enthusiastic about what they did understand. Pointing out ways to use less. Pointing out my mistakes. “Mommy, you got a new laptop this summer! Why didn’t you use the one we had?” “Because it was 4 years old. The 
mouse doesn’t work properly. We get the blue screen of death at least 1-2 a day. AND! You kids picked the letter ‘J’ off. There is no more ‘J’. I need ‘J’.”
Please watch and share. Click on the poster:
If you are a mommy that blogs and you don’t already follow Liz Gumbinner at Mom-101.com and The Huffington Post, you probably should. Blazing the trail for Mommy Bloggers everywhere like myself, her website Cool Mom Picks is the place to go for mommy endorsed products as well as mommy-made products you can feel good about buying. Liz explains it well:
“We’re all about promoting more responsible consumerism – buy things you truly adore that will last, and just own fewer of them.”
I’m down for that. You know that if you read my post on STUFF.
And in a moment of shameless self promotion, I wanted to thank Liz for including me in her December 29, 2009 post:
The top 50 mommybloggers who didn’t make the Babble top 50 mommybloggers list and are probably more fun anyway!
I am #45 so you have to scroll down a bit to read it but there I am. I feel so…validated.
I also want to thank Andrea Fellman over at Sassy Savvy Moms for including me in her list My New favorite Eco-Savvy Mom Blogs. I appreciate that she took the time to look at my brand new blog and give me a shout out. We are all in it together, and it doesn’t hurt when someone who’s been here longer and has more experience gives you a shout out. Thank you, Andrea!
Happy 2010 all you bloggin’ mommies.
“A house is just a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get more stuff.”
George Carlin.
My previous post “No box! No toy!” is the perfect lead into this next subject. Stuff. It fills our lives right up to the edge. Think about all the stuff you have. Especially as a parent. You have the stuff you need and then there is the rest of it. We are so guilty of it, and by we I mean me and my husband. We aren’t the type to just shop and fill our spaces, but when you have children, friends & family stuff just flows your way. We have a house filled with stuff and we have a barn filled with stuff. Stuff we need and stuff we don’t. But we have gotten better about weeding through it all over the past few years, whittling it down. Making donations twice a year. But it can take over your life if you let it.
Like many of you out there, there is the stuff you have been dragging with you since you left college. Then you get married, and your stuff gets married. Then your parents upgrade their stuff and pass on their old stuff to you, which might be a hair nicer than what you had, so you take it. Then you start to run out of room and you either gotta give stuff away or buy a bigger house.
We bought a big and very old – 1860′s Victorian – house on an acre when we were 29, in 1999, because the thought was we would never buy again. (My husband actually factored in how much we would save by NOT having to move, say, 3 more times, into the cost of this home to convince me to take the plunge) And that still holds true. We are here to stay. Now that we have kids, it fits perfectly. But it seemed so empty in the beginning, not alot of stuff, and I loved that. But parents and family want to buy you housewarming gifts. Grandparents move on to assisted living and leave you furniture, paintings, more dishes. But you keep it under control.
And then comes the kids. There is no more control. We had three different strollers for our first, born the summer of 2001. Three! My husband and I had gotten used to living in a streamlined, clean, uncluttered home for two years before Sophie. By the time she was one I was getting a little frantic. The first grandchild and great-grandchild, of course she is going to get a slew of her own stuff. But now I have to try and keep it in check along with my stuff. I kept it together…until…
Max was born in early 2004. Then it all fell apart. I couldn’t keep it together having to breast feed all night my ravenous baby boy, as well as deal with a toddler suffering from sleep apnea. Turned out Sophie had seriously enlarged adenoids and tonsils which would result in breathing problems, thus keeping her from sleeping. She would wake up repeatedly throughout the night until we found out what the problem was and got them removed when she was 3 1/2. And I thought it was just bad parenting skills!
So we got even more stuff. It is in the grandparent, friend and family DNA to give a child a gift. And even when you try and explain that you don’t need so much, they don’t always understand what the big fat deal is. Our parents just threw everything in the garbage when they were done with it. I don’t know anybody who donated anything when I was growing up, do you? (Disclaimer: please don’t get me wrong, my kids have received some wonderful books and toys that stand the test of time from their grandparents and family. This is not the stuff I am referring to.)
Anyway. After I came out of the toddler and baby fog,( which was around when max turned 3 1/2) I started to get a grip. Managing all that stuff on a daily/weekly/monthly/yearly basis is an utter total time suck.
This past June, during a week after school was out and being stuck inside by endless rain, I had a moment of clarity.
Time to get rid of sh*t.
Over the next few days, the kids and I went on a rampage, dumping out every toy bin. Matching pieces to sets of whatever. Filling bags and boxes with all that stuff they never play with anymore. Clothes. Itemizing for the write off. (My husband would never let it go without getting a write off!)Â Of course when the kids said that certain items meant too much to give away, I respected that. But you wouldn’t believe how much got cleaned out of this house. The kids loved how much space there now was in their rooms. And they never, ever missed anything we gave away. Not once did they bring it up. Now, here was the most surprising thing about it all:
The toys that they kept were now being played with all the time that summer, with a renewed interest and zeal. I loved how they rediscovered toys that had been buried under other less interesting toys and forgotten. I pointed it out to them, to try and drive home the fact that sometimes less is more, and that more is not always better.
It felt like I was finally able to exhale after years of holding my breath. Relief.
