Friday, June 28, 2024

Stuff Shuffler

      I have come to the uncomfortable conclusion that I am a stuff shuffler. Over the past few years I have given a lot of things away, but somehow there's still a lot of stuff in our house that I shuffle from place to place.

    Back in 2010 we lived as extreme minimalists for six months, and I loved it. There was so much freedom, so much time for life and what we truly enjoyed, so much less work. 

     Coming back home and seeing all our things was great, but I went from having all this time to do life to having to spend a lot of time cleaning, taking care of things, shuffling things from one area of the house to the other.

    Part of me really wants to have the courage to embrace the minimalist life, because I know how it feels and I'm tired of being a stuff shuffler. But, I'm torn because there's another part of me who really likes our things.

    This week I've been shuffling stuff again, but this time a lot of it has been being shuffled out the door. I don't see myself becoming an extreme minimalist again, but I'm looking forward to having less things and more freedom.

    In the course of letting things go I have been taking some pictures of the stuff that has memories attached, including a big stack of impractical yarn potholders.

    On our annual trip to Canada to visit Grandma and the aunts when I was twelve or so, aunt Ella sat down and taught me how to make yarn potholders on a little loom she had. I was thrilled to learn and at the end of the visit she sent the loom home with me and over the next years I made countless sets of them to sell in my parents store.  But for all these years I had kept that first set I had made.


 
    Next up was a set made by my youngest brother when he was but a wee lad. My mom had helped him make the fancier version. It always sent warm fuzzies around my heart everytime I saw them, but being impractical I never used them. Simply shuffled them from here to there during spring and fall housecleaning and reorganizations.


    The girls were fascinated with these particular creations when they were younger and I pulled out my old loom and taught them how to make them and then also demonstrated the step to take them further to the fancier pom-pom like version. It was a fun time for all of us, and seeing these brought back those memories, but it's time they go. I've shuffled them long enough.

6 comments:

  1. It is hard to let go but as you already know freeing
    Cathy

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  2. Not sure why I am anonymous
    Cathy at acorn hollow

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  3. They are very pretty, but there comes a time.....

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  4. When objects have such sentimental value, it's so difficult to let them go. I've tried not to be a stuff shuffler over the years, and I have managed to do fairly well. When we're tempted to hang onto an object, we need to ask if anyone in our life would like to have this object when we are gone. Blessings!

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  5. I have embraced minimalism and can't imagine living with clutter any longer. But it takes effort, kind of like avoiding sugar and processed junk food.

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  6. I come from a long line of thrifty people - packrats, one step away from being a bunch of hoarders. My grandparents lived through two world wars, and my mum was 8 when The Depression hit, and WWII started while she was pregnant with me. If our family had a coat of arms, the motto would be "Wurfen Nicht" - "Don't Throw it Away". I shuffle paper, fabric, patterns, magazines, jig saw puzzles - all sorts of things.
    You have my utmost sympathy and admiration. I'd dearly love to be able to download some of this Good Stuff.

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment. I love hearing your thoughts.