Fighting The Tyranny of Stuff

Stuff, n: Household or personal articles considered 

as a group. Unspecified material. Worthless objects.

I'm going to be moving next month, and I’m determined to simplify my life. I’m selling my car, donating most of my furniture, and getting rid of “stuff.”  

For years I have schlepped stuff around the country, to nine states and about 20 different addresses. There was always more stuff than I ever really needed, and I seldom if ever used some of it: casserole dishes, candlesticks, folding chairs, patio furniture, a beat-up old armoire, a bulky old television, etc., etc. After one of my Navy moves I found boxes that had stickers on them from three different moving companies … and they hadn’t been opened since they were packed, three addresses earlier. Who needs this much stuff? 

I used to think this stuff meant something important because it reminded me of someone or someplace that I didn’t want to forget. What about those important tchotchkes from Italy or Ireland or Hawaii? I’ll take a picture of them and remember them that way. I don’t need three dozen glasses of various shapes and sizes. And I only use one coffee mug at a time; why do I have eighteen? Is the “Car Talk” mug that I got with a contribution to NPR really all that important? 

How about the extra bed frame for the spare bedroom that I won’t have in my new one-bedroom apartment? Some formerly homeless family can put it to good use if I give it to a charity here in Atlanta.  

The pictures I’ve scanned into my computer; the memories are in my head. They’re better than possessions, and a lot easier to carry. Good-bye to stuff.

This feels good. It’s cathartic. A fresh start in a new place. Effective in mid-June (date TBD) I will be living in the Mission Hills neighborhood of San Diego, CA. (See below.)

 

 

The apartment complex is basically the entire square block from left to right and back behind in the picture. The neighborhood has a bit of a Greenwich Village feel to it. There are some small shops along Washington Street, the east/west thoroughfare in the foreground. And yes, for you eagle eyes out there: there’s a Starbuck’s in the building. (Green sign.)  

I'll post my address when the move has been completed. My phone number will stay the same: 770-757-1815.

"California here I come ...

right back where I once was from."