Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Stuff

George Carlin has a hilariously funny bit on "stuff" that always makes me laugh. (just be careful, there is some adult language in it)

It has replayed in my mind about a million times as I've been dealing with getting all my stuff from IL to KS. We got rid of some stuff, but then, we inherited new stuff when we got here. It took hours for movers to load up all our stuff, another day to unload it all, and we are going on a week of trying to figure out where to put all of it in this big beautiful house. I am convinced that earlier generations must have had a lot less stuff, because they didn't build houses with room to adequately store an abundance of stuff. So now I find myself buying stuff to organize, hide, display and store the stuff we already had. And then, as I'm doing all that, I am just thinking about the Christian call to simplicity- "If you have two coats" and all that. So, I'm working on a personal goal to pass on more than I acquire in the coming year. I have a feeling my attempts will be very revealing about the relationship I have to my own stuff. I'll share my break-throughs and set-backs as they come. If you've successfully simplified, what was your first step?


3 comments:

  1. I don't consider myself successfully simplified, but I am working on it. I am making small gains and so I guess I consider that a success. I started by getting rid of stuff that I have an abundance of or aren't necessary (ex: baking sheets, shoes, purses, ect. you get the idea). I've decided if I haven't used it in a year (or the 3 1/2 we've been married!!!) I'm probably not going to start. I haven't tackled much of the house yet, but I am so looking forward to it. If you ever need help simplifiying, let me know! Sometimes it is so much easier to have someone else "weed" through your things you think are really important. I could probably use the help sometime too:)

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  2. Krista,
    I'd say you are much better at it so far than I. Maybe it's having been a broke student for so long, but I end up with this awful feeling that someday I'll need that "thing" and won't have the money to replace it. Then I watch the show hoarders and get scared into putting more stuff in the garage sale boxes!

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  3. We have a mutual friend who's a genius at stuff-reduction! Since this is a public space, I'll just tell you: her initials are BE and she has my same job, but in IL. I stayed with her in April and she has no stuff(in a good way)!!!

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