Monday, January 28, 2008

Stuff By Any Other Name..... Is Still Just Stuff

We all have it. Oh, you might deny it. I'm sure there are those of you out there that will swear three ways to Sunday that you don't have a single item of stuff more than you actually need. You will say that you are the person who promptly throws away all the junk mail you get throughout the week, and you don't actually save your kids' school papers or art projects (even though you tell your kids you just "stored them away"). You don't have boxes and boxes of stuff documenting all of your years on this earth stored in your garage or attic. And you certainly don't discover yourself coming across stuff that you didn't realize you even had anymore, and you never hear yourself saying something like Where on earth did that come from?

To those of you who can make those claims, I have one thing to say to you.

You're lying.

Flat out, through your teeth, blatantly lying.

Although, I will grant that you might not be as bad as some, you know you do it. You keep that first school paper they brought home that had an "A" on it in bright red marker. You keep that Styrofoam cup flower pot they made you in kindergarten. You've found yourself shoving junk mail into a drawer one day when your mother in law made a surprise visit. You have that box of memories from high school stored up high where you never look at it anymore, but its still comforting to know its there if you ever want to revisit those years. And you all know you've got at least one item of clothing stored somewhere in your closet that means something to you but you can't wear anymore... your letter jacket, your wedding gown, those jeans you wore before your FIRST pregnancy.

In my case, its mainly boxes of books. Seven of them to be specific. Well, seven in the garage. I think I've got another four or five scattered throughout the house. Seeing all these boxes really lends credibility to my constantly telling you all that Coach really, REALLY loves me. He only ever makes me give a box away to someone each time we move.

So I've decided we are never moving again. Coach apparently agrees, as he's building more shelves for the garage. Of course, he might just be resigned to making room for the stuff.

I've always known I married a smart man. Here's hoping we've passed that on to my boys.

11 comments:

Cecily R said...

We just moved last summer and the thought of doing it again makes me queasy. We have so much crap!! It's amazing how fast it adds up!

And the stuff you listed, the flower pot, the first A paper, the junk mail? Yea, I have it. ALL of it. :)

Flea said...

My hunny makes me go through all of my boxes of stuff once every six months and consolidate. :( Because I add more boxes of stuff in the interim.

Burgh Baby said...

My husband is HORRIBLE about keeping everything. He has his high school football blanket, toys from his childhood, every note he took in college, ever cassette tape he has ever owned, etc., etc., etc. The man cannot throw anything away. As a result, I have swung to the extreme opposite. I really do toss everything. There are a few (as in less than 10) Toddler art projects hanging around, but I think that's it. No sentimental clothing. No junk from high school (not even year books--they got lost in a move forever ago). No books. Nothing.

I'm going to mad at my husband someday for forcing me (I house would explode if I kept things given how much he keeps) to get rid of all my stuff, aren't I?

*~*Cece*~* said...

OI go through phases where I save save save! Then the next phase is toss toss toss!

LunaNik said...

I am a saver. I save everything. I still have a big rubbermaid container of my childhood dolls to pass down to my daughters.

My hubby? Saves nothing. Seriously. When we moved in together he had clothes, his guitar, and some CD's. That's it. If we ever broke up, he would let me take EVERYTHING. He wouldn't care.

I envy him sometimes. He knows that stuff is just stuff and does not and should not define your life. I'm trying very hard to learn from him.

Unknown said...

I have to throw things away when my husband is at work or asleep because he thinks we'll use everything at some point!

The Sports Mama said...

Cecily, I've got it all, too! I DO try to keep it contained, though.

Flea, Coach tries to get me to go through things. :)

Burgh, I don't think I'm quite that bad, but I can certainly sympathize with your husband.

Cece, I don't know that I've ever *quite* gotten to the "toss, toss, toss" phase! :)

Lunanik, your hubby's definitely got a good outlook!

Stella, I don't think we'll ever use most of what I keep, I just can't seem to throw it all away. :)

Amy said...

Books! Honey, you need to build yourself a library!

I still have the dress I wore to my wedding rehearsal dinner. It's in my closet with the rest of my clothes, it still fits, but at 11 years old it's a tad bit out of style.

Karen said...

I swear if we'd gotten rid of the stuff we did when we moved, we probably wouldn't have needed a bigger house.

Of course we still have the 4 kids...

Unknown said...

I'm with you. I have so much crap that I am of the opinion we need to move just for the sake of the purge. And, books are for keepers...always!

Kidzmama said...

My hubby and I are not keepers of most things. He has his collection of books he has read since he was a kid. Ten bookshelves worth in the basement. I've kept the journals I wrote in when I was growing up. Maybe one day when Clever is freaking out about a boy I can pull one out and say, "see, I went through it too". Because we still have little ones we've kept toys, snow boots, and coats. As soon as Happy and Baby grow out of things they're out the door.

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