on losing weight (part 1)
I've had a problem for my entire life that goes back as far as I can remember.
I have too much stuff.
I was going to specify that I've had this problem ever since I moved from Australia to America, because I arrived with 2 small boxes and 2 suitcases and proceeded to add on from there. But actually, even as a child, I've had more stuff than I really needed to have.
I see now (and have seen for a while) that the results of having more than I need is that large numbers of possessions aren't used often. There's an accompanying issue with storage (where do I put all this stuff?). And then the inevitable corollary is I often can't find what I do need (where did I put my stuff?).
I learned my lesson about having too much stuff years ago. One of my coworkers had to put her aunt in a nursing home, and part of that was giving up the aunt's current house, and downsizing all the stuff. The coworker was not lurid in any way, but the reality of the situation spoke for itself. She had to take an entire week off work, and hire a dumpster to get rid of anything that would not fit into the nursing home quarters that the aunt would be living in. It was ALL she could do to move stuff from the house to the dumpster. There was no time to sort through and determine what could be potentially valuable and therefore sold. There were years of newspapers, clothes, books, records, and all the other things people surround themselves with when they have a house.
I went home and looked at my own house, and that was when part 1 of The Plan was hatched. Don't ever bring anything in the house again, without taking out an equal volume.
Of course, as all of us (including me) know, that only stopped the problem in its tracks. It doesn't address all the stuff I had already accumulated. It doesn't even really address the problem of accumulation, since I'm definitely allowed to get more as long as I lose something I don't want. It was a good start but all it did was address the symptom of growing stuff.
I still had to deal with the symptoms of needing stuff (a.k.a. "shopping while bored") and of knowing what I wanted/needed and why (priorities).
Last week, I put a new plan into action. In addition to not adding to the pile of crap I'm currently sitting on, I'm also actively looking for something to put in the trash and something to take out of the house (usually this means donate, or sell, or give away).
here are some of the things I'm taking out of the house.
- six perfectly good pairs of shoes that fit me in variations of "adequate" (while not conveying any particular happiness on my person or on my feet), and suit a variety of needs in a fashion that can be only described as "ok".
- a clock that works, as far as I know, but that I've never used.
- 2 VCRs that I have not used in at least 4 years.
- 1 DVD player that I haven't used in a similar length of time.
- saline solution, which I bought last year in case I needed to wash dust out of my eyes.
(obviously I've cheated a little, and on several occasions have taken more than one thing a day out of the house)
You get the picture. I'm attached to stuff that isn't broken. I assume it's on the premise that "I might need them at some point." When would I need a VCR? Well, I don't know, and haven't made time to think about that yet. Why would I need shoes that might not exactly fit me and don't particularly look good to me? Um... maybe for work? You know, just in case I don't want to wear any of the shoes that fit me better and look nicer? Yeah.
What kind of things am I trashing?
- every time I have to pick someone up from the airport, everything living in my car gets dumped into a bag and left in the garage for sorting. I have at least 2 bags, potentially more. What is living in my car? Empty water bottles in case I need a temporary water bottle at dance practice. Old napkins. Old receipts - a lot of old receipts. A lot. Occasionally important paperwork in various flavours of importance.
- old junk mail
- old magazines
- old bills I didn't open, because I found out about them some other way (I do have a place to put my bills, but occasionally this place gets tidied or buried, and then the bills are moved someplace else and then I can't find them, and then the next month's bill gets delivered so I pay those instead)
- sturdy boxes and packaging that I kept in case I needed a sturdy box or needed to return a thing I bought.
I swear, you guys, I did NOT know I was living on a trash heap. But there are a lot of pieces of paper I kept for a good reason (e.g. the receipt for the certification course I took 12 years ago, and related paperwork that had my social security number on some of the pieces, because I thought I might need to claim it on taxes, or thought I might need to refer back to some of this... stuff...). But I digress.
The plan is being put into action because I need a way, however small and stupid, to insure that I continue to improve (i.e. decrease) the amount of physical items I own. I need to look at every single thing I currently have and, for that thing determine WHY I have it, and whether I truly WANT it or I'm just keeping it because it isn't broken and therefore has some monetary value. I seem to have fallen under the impression that keeping unbroken things is equivalent to cash in the bank. It's not. The value all these things have is in the using of them. These things have absolutely no value as I define it (I'm not using them and do not want to use them (e.g. VCRs)), and in many cases hinder my being able to find things that have value.
So, it's time to work on the goal I've had all along. Being able to be only in possession of things that bring me joy and that I have a need for, and being able to store them adequately. It's time to lose some weight.
I have too much stuff.
I was going to specify that I've had this problem ever since I moved from Australia to America, because I arrived with 2 small boxes and 2 suitcases and proceeded to add on from there. But actually, even as a child, I've had more stuff than I really needed to have.
I see now (and have seen for a while) that the results of having more than I need is that large numbers of possessions aren't used often. There's an accompanying issue with storage (where do I put all this stuff?). And then the inevitable corollary is I often can't find what I do need (where did I put my stuff?).
I learned my lesson about having too much stuff years ago. One of my coworkers had to put her aunt in a nursing home, and part of that was giving up the aunt's current house, and downsizing all the stuff. The coworker was not lurid in any way, but the reality of the situation spoke for itself. She had to take an entire week off work, and hire a dumpster to get rid of anything that would not fit into the nursing home quarters that the aunt would be living in. It was ALL she could do to move stuff from the house to the dumpster. There was no time to sort through and determine what could be potentially valuable and therefore sold. There were years of newspapers, clothes, books, records, and all the other things people surround themselves with when they have a house.
I went home and looked at my own house, and that was when part 1 of The Plan was hatched. Don't ever bring anything in the house again, without taking out an equal volume.
Of course, as all of us (including me) know, that only stopped the problem in its tracks. It doesn't address all the stuff I had already accumulated. It doesn't even really address the problem of accumulation, since I'm definitely allowed to get more as long as I lose something I don't want. It was a good start but all it did was address the symptom of growing stuff.
I still had to deal with the symptoms of needing stuff (a.k.a. "shopping while bored") and of knowing what I wanted/needed and why (priorities).
Last week, I put a new plan into action. In addition to not adding to the pile of crap I'm currently sitting on, I'm also actively looking for something to put in the trash and something to take out of the house (usually this means donate, or sell, or give away).
here are some of the things I'm taking out of the house.
- six perfectly good pairs of shoes that fit me in variations of "adequate" (while not conveying any particular happiness on my person or on my feet), and suit a variety of needs in a fashion that can be only described as "ok".
- a clock that works, as far as I know, but that I've never used.
- 2 VCRs that I have not used in at least 4 years.
- 1 DVD player that I haven't used in a similar length of time.
- saline solution, which I bought last year in case I needed to wash dust out of my eyes.
(obviously I've cheated a little, and on several occasions have taken more than one thing a day out of the house)
You get the picture. I'm attached to stuff that isn't broken. I assume it's on the premise that "I might need them at some point." When would I need a VCR? Well, I don't know, and haven't made time to think about that yet. Why would I need shoes that might not exactly fit me and don't particularly look good to me? Um... maybe for work? You know, just in case I don't want to wear any of the shoes that fit me better and look nicer? Yeah.
What kind of things am I trashing?
- every time I have to pick someone up from the airport, everything living in my car gets dumped into a bag and left in the garage for sorting. I have at least 2 bags, potentially more. What is living in my car? Empty water bottles in case I need a temporary water bottle at dance practice. Old napkins. Old receipts - a lot of old receipts. A lot. Occasionally important paperwork in various flavours of importance.
- old junk mail
- old magazines
- old bills I didn't open, because I found out about them some other way (I do have a place to put my bills, but occasionally this place gets tidied or buried, and then the bills are moved someplace else and then I can't find them, and then the next month's bill gets delivered so I pay those instead)
- sturdy boxes and packaging that I kept in case I needed a sturdy box or needed to return a thing I bought.
I swear, you guys, I did NOT know I was living on a trash heap. But there are a lot of pieces of paper I kept for a good reason (e.g. the receipt for the certification course I took 12 years ago, and related paperwork that had my social security number on some of the pieces, because I thought I might need to claim it on taxes, or thought I might need to refer back to some of this... stuff...). But I digress.
The plan is being put into action because I need a way, however small and stupid, to insure that I continue to improve (i.e. decrease) the amount of physical items I own. I need to look at every single thing I currently have and, for that thing determine WHY I have it, and whether I truly WANT it or I'm just keeping it because it isn't broken and therefore has some monetary value. I seem to have fallen under the impression that keeping unbroken things is equivalent to cash in the bank. It's not. The value all these things have is in the using of them. These things have absolutely no value as I define it (I'm not using them and do not want to use them (e.g. VCRs)), and in many cases hinder my being able to find things that have value.
So, it's time to work on the goal I've had all along. Being able to be only in possession of things that bring me joy and that I have a need for, and being able to store them adequately. It's time to lose some weight.