get rid of unnecessary possessions

My grandmother has been clearing out the upstairs as well as her kitchen. Her philosophy is that things she hasn’t used in the past five years you should get rid of. I went through her stuff and while there were things with sentimental value to me, I let them go instead of collecting them for myself. I did snag up some things (a roaster, a mixer, some pyrex) for the ambulance hall kitchen.

Since I’ll be moving sometime this year, I need to start to cull down my own things. I know I have way too many clothes that are now way too big since I’ve lost the weight. I don’t plan on regaining the weight, so that stuff can all go. I have brand new kitchen utensils (food processor, mixer, blender, etc.) that I’ve never taken out of the box, but were presents from my parents over the last two decades. If I haven’t ever needed them before, why should I keep them?

So my parents are remodelling their kitchen, and they took out the ceiling which gave easy access to the small attic which was my clubhouse growing up. The main access is through the closet in the yellow room which is full of stuff, so we haven’t been able to get into my attic for years.

I used a ladder to climb through the rafters in order to examine the items up there and salvage what I wanted, while purging the rest. Some of the things I saved were parts of my old Safari game, old Bingo pieces, a poseable Wonder Woman that hung on my bedroom door (she was replaced by Marilyn Monroe in the classic subway grate pose), marbles, a poster of Bo Duke, a personalized autographed poster of Philadelphia Eagles Ron Jaworski, a poster of Cheap Trick, a Flintsones bowling game, some old drawings that I did, three Jungle book cards, a handful of puzzle pieces, and a bunch of other stuff.

Things I got rid of were a couple Ringley Brothers Circus posters, all kinds of school papers, a baby blanket, some old pajamas, a fingerprint set, an old matching game where all the symbols had fallen off the pop up buttons, scraps of paper, the remnants of the white garbage bag that some of this stuff had been in but had fallen apart because of the heat of the attic, empty Pringles cans, and a bunch of other stuff.

It was interesting to see what was once important to me (circa 30 years ago) and how little of it meant anything to me now. Oh, I did find a bag of old Valentine cards from elementary school. I saved those, but didn’t look through them yet to see who I got them from. I actually gave the school papers to my mom since she’s the one who saved them and told her to go through and keep what she wanted but that I didn’t want any of them.

Well, I didn’t make much progress here this past weekend as I added more things instead of getting rid of them. I was visiting my grandmother’s house and she was considering letting an Amish woman who is leaving the order move into her home. We met the young woman (24 or 26 y/o) and I gave her a tour of the rooms upstairs. She chose my Great Aunt Alice’s old bedroom, so since Grandma can no longer go up and down the stairs I set about cleaning out the room. I actually was very successful in emptying out the drawers of the dresser, clearing out the closet, and underneath the bed.

• My mother’s childhood jewelry box that contained her high school jacket letter, her sorority letter, her 4H pins, some skeleton keys, a dollar coin belt, a Christmas ornament, and some other items (eye drops, a Sears mercury battery)
• My great aunt’s jewelry box that contained around 50 school photos of the kids (including me) that had been given to her, book marks, and other stuff
• A Christian illustrated story that Grandma used back when she was teaching Bible Camp
• A copy of my cousin Debbie’s manuscript for her book of poetry
• A couple study guides that my Great Aunt Alice had written in
• A collection of framed portraits and photos of the family of a friend of the family who has passed away and whose remaining family didn’t want (including a framed certificate of recognition for perfect attendance). None of these are people I know.
• A twin framed piece of art that my cousin Travis’ mother Dolly made, though at the time I said I wanted it, I didn’t know she had made it.

Now do I really want or need any of these things, or are they just more unnecessary possessions? I actually left the bag of items in my bedroom at my parent’s house (with the exception of the manuscript), so I haven’t added to my apartment clutter, but still did I really need those items?

Okay, so this may seem like a weird entry for getting rid of unnecessary possesions, but it is clearing out my junk room. I have a habit of buying things for people throughout the year. The things I buy go in my junk room. When it comes time for Christmas or birthdays, I go in the room and find something already bought for my friends and family. While I’ve been cleaning my apartment, I started organizing my junk room. I found plenty of gifts for my parents, my best friend, and a few close friends. I’ve spent the evening wrapping those gifts tonight so that I can take them with me tomorrow when I go to my parents’ for Thanksgiving. So not only am I getting rid of things that I don’t need, but I’ve got my Christmas shopping done for several people and the gifts are already wrapped. That means that come December 23-24th I won’t be scurrying to wrap everything. Now that’s going to be sweet.

I’m not done though. I still need to get the books back from RuthG for my mom and grandma, buy for three aunts, four cousins, my employees, four friends, and my landlady.

So my friend Jason is moving into his new apartment. I told him he could have the mattress and rails for the bed that an old roommate had left and which he had used at an apartment of his years ago, but I’d salvaged when he got evicted. I don’t have the bed-springs for it though. I also gave him my old coffee table which I’d gained at my second apartment as it was left behind there. (I left a couch in its place.) I also gave him an old cordless phone that was an old roommate’s of mine which I’d let him use when we lived together and he had trashed at one point. I also gave him my old microwave. The platter inside was cracked, but it still works.

Here’s the real kicker that surprised me. I gave him my parent’s old bedroom night stands. These two wood stands were semi-circles that used to be on both sides of my parents’ bed when we first moved into our house, and then later were put together and were mom’s nightstand alone. They were getting rid of them a few years ago and I told them I’d take them. I didn’t really have a place or use for them but they had sentimental value to me. When I was in the attic yesterday getting the microwave, I saw them and decided to give them to Jason. I guess I’m really coming to realize that I don’t need the physical items to still feel the connection to the past.

I’ve offered Jason two chairs, a beanbag chair, and two component stands also. He said he’d be interested in at least the one component stand. Now I just have to clear it off for him. (These two stands have been in my dining room for the past three years since I got them from my parents who were getting rid of them.)

As I work on cleaning my apartment, as I find things that are unnecessary, I will collect them and either (1) give them to Jason, (2) give them to the Christmas House, (3) offer them to any 43Thinger that wants them, or (4) just pitch it.

So I got a call from a former roommate of mine who was in the area and wanted to stop by and visit. A year or so ago I sent him a box of his stuff and told him to stay out of my life. (He owes me over $600 in unpaid loans, phone bills, etc.) So I met up with him today, and he asked if there was anything else of his still up in the attic. I told him I’d sent everything, but after he talked about how he was missing some stuff still, I went up into the attic and found three more boxes of his stuff that were buried under some other stuff. I took it over to another former roommate’s place where he was at and confirmed it was his stuff. He seemed happy to get it back, and now that I have none of his stuff, that’s less clutter upstairs.

Okay, so I went through my spare bedroom where I store all the various things that I collect but don’t know what to do with so they get stacked there. A whole bunch of it went to some friends and family of mine as Christmas gifts. It helped me save money, and also helped me on this goal.

I got rid of two bags of stuff this past weekend. That’s a start. Sure it was trash/garbage, but I’m gonna let it count for this.