By now, we've all seen the terribly uncomfortable, sometimes nauseating shows that give us a small glimpse into the life of a hoarder. If you are like me, you get some comfort from the fact that my unkempt living room is far from the collections of crap and mountains of mess belonging to "those" people. However, recently I heard something that has stuck with me. It's a simple definition of hoarding:
hoard-ing: v, having without using
Having without using! Let that settle for a moment.
If you're like me your mind may be drawn to the stack of boxes in the basement that you moved, and then moved, and then moved. Those boxes that you first packed 7 years ago and have yet to open again. You know, the one that has the third set of kitchen utensils from your bridal shower you might need someday. The one with the glass vase you can't use while there are kids (or just clumsy you) in the house. How about the heavy one with all of those books from college that the bookstore wouldn't buy back. Do you have a few of those?
If you're like me your mind may be drawn to the stack of boxes in the basement that you moved, and then moved, and then moved. Those boxes that you first packed 7 years ago and have yet to open again. You know, the one that has the third set of kitchen utensils from your bridal shower you might need someday. The one with the glass vase you can't use while there are kids (or just clumsy you) in the house. How about the heavy one with all of those books from college that the bookstore wouldn't buy back. Do you have a few of those?
"Hoarding" is the word for this generation. "Pack-rat" might ring your bell instead. Regardless, "foolish" is what the Bible calls it. To soften the blow, I'll avoid the three letter "s" word that ends with "-in."
This definition has been tumbling around my head bumping into the greed, pride and insecurity that's in there, too. Talk about a headache. Therefore, I decided to do something about it. It's called a garage sale! (I know, it's pretty redneck.)
Can you believe all of that "stuff!" That's just a fraction of what we were selling and an even smaller fraction of what is probably still left sitting around our house. And if you've known Jason and I for any amount of our married life you know the size of the places we've called home - 400 square feet to 800 then 900 now about 1200 square feet (woohoo for a basement and a garage that somehow are already full). Where? How?
After a few days of hard work, it's over. It feels good to have some junk out of our lives and a little extra cash in our hands, and it really didn't even hurt to watch stuff leave that I once thought I "needed." Good riddance!
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