Flickr Photo by Elisadc
The older I get the less important “things” mean to me. Don’t get me wrong, I still love to shop for something pretty. But in this day and time feeling secure is much more important to me than buying something new or hanging on to something I no longer need. Today, I find that I get much more pleasure out of a credit card that is finally paid off and cut up. Living with less means less debt. We need the basics, not the best!
Our home is small with very little storage space. But I have managed to pack into every corner a storage bin of things throughout the house. I have storage bins in every closet, under every bed. I don’t know what’s in most of them. Obviously I don’t use whatever is in the containers. So, why do I keep them?
A few months ago I began my journey through each and every storage bin and box. I challenged myself to give away what I am not using and pass down the things that are special to me. I found that many of my old things are now collectibles and was able to sell them on eBay. I plan to use that money for home repairs and a long overdue family vacation together.
Every storage bin is a struggle with trying to decide whether to keep the contents or not. I have saved things that I thought my boys would want. I have saved things that I wanted to pass down to grandchildren I don’t have yet. I have saved things that belonged to all the people I have loved in my lifetime. I have saved every greeting card I ever received. Do I really believe that after I am gone that anyone will care about all these “things”?
I finally am able to look at it differently after going through the things I saved for my boys. They carefully examined each item and quickly moved it to the “get rid of” pile. They kept the yearbooks and photos, but everything else, gone! They quickly reminded me that it is about the memories, not the things that are hidden away and forgotten.
I made an agreement with myself to keep only the most special or valuable keepsakes. I will keep all my special photos, my wedding dress, a couple of books that I read to my children when they were babies, a coat that my Mother lovingly sewed for me so many years ago. And with that, everything else was gone.
I am now inspired to put my special memories onto paper and not into a storage box. After all, as my son reminded me, “it is about the memories, not about the things that are hidden away and forgotten.” For our treasures, we keep in our hearts.
