Stuff, continued

I've been staying at home a lot this week and have been on a mission to unpack boxes, further reduce my "stuff," and devise creative strategies for using my small space efficiently.

"Functionality" is the key word. If it's just taking up space, do I really need it?  I'm donating lots of stuff that others may find more useful to them than it is to me. Not "junk," but good stuff like gently used clothing and books, window treatments that don't fit the new windows, excess kitchen wares and linens that have just...accumulated over the past twenty or thirty years.

On the other hand, I'm not giving up ALL my stuff, not yet. I enjoy making things, and I'm not ready to part with the stash I've built up of "craft materials."  I'm having to become much more organized in storing things than I have been in the past, however.

Ditto with my collection of writing papers--I used to be an avid letter writer, an activity that has fallen on hard times with the advent of real time electronic communications. But I'm accepting this challenge from one of my favorite blogs and it should help me reduce my stationery supply:

“One piece of “real” mail sent out each week. It can be a letter, a postcard, a care package, a thank you note, handmade art, etc. I’m searching for all of the cards and stationery I have collected over the years and gathering them into one place with pens, envelopes (regular & padded), lots of stamps (.28 & .44), a glue stick, unlined index cards (great for making postcards), and a few USPS Small Flat Rate boxes. Oh, and I’m updating my address book.”

Then there are all the photographs and keepsakes...that have been in this box and that one, waiting for the day when they will become organized into albums and scrapbooks. Oh wait, that doesn't happen by itself one night while I am sleeping?  Oops, I guess I'd better add that day to my schedule pretty soon.

I've decided it's my job to deal with my own stuff here and now because, although I'm planning to be around for another twenty or thirty years, time flies and you can't take your stuff with you when you go. My kids have their own stuff and don't need to have mine dumped on them too.