Managing the Stuff

Dear Friends and Family,

Clutter. I grew up in a house full of clutter. And, I fight the constant battle of clutter. I know I had clutter under control when I lived alone. I know I don't have clutter under control now.

I can either leave Mr. mouse over clutter which I'm not going to do. I can hope to change Mr. mouse which I'm not going to do. I can continue to incrementally fight clutter which seems like a good way to build a lot of frustration and angst. Or, I can build a better mouse trap, so to speak.

I think I'll go with the latter.

So, thinking broadly.

There's things we buy that were useful and no longer are useful.

This would be things like clothes from five years ago. This would be things like the mirror I just brought in for my friend. This would be things like the bookshelf we used in one of our former apartments that's now sitting in the garage.

Solution: I think I can try to tame this one. I can do a two for one exchange. For every new and useful thing that we buy, two things need to leave the house. This guarantees a level of progress, I think.

There's things we buy that were never useful.

I've got several examples sitting on our kitchen counters right now. There's the baseball cap we got when we bought ice cream at the baseball game. There's the cross section of a whiskey barrel as a magnet that Mr. mouse got on a business trip. There's the pennies pressed into Warren Buffet's picture. Yes, all three of these are sitting on our kitchen island right now.

Solution: I need to convince Mr. mouse to stop buying this stuff.

There's the things we make.

This includes P's art work, wedding invitations, Christmas cards, ticket stubs, letters, receipts, and the list goes on. This list can go on forever because this is where Mr. mouse excels.

Solution: I'm not sure I can come up with a solution for this one now. I don't object to saving wedding invitations. I'm okay with converting P's art into a scrapbook. But, ticket stubs for every flight we've taken. I could lose those and not lose a wink of sleep over it.

There's things we get that were useful and no longer are useful.

This can be summarized as gifts we've outgrown. And, I think the solution is the same as the solution for things we buy that are no longer useful - a two for one exchange.

There's things we get that were never useful.

This includes gifts we don't find useful and now includes all the stuff P acquires at school and at birthday parties.

Solutions: For gifts, we should donate them right away instead of aging them first. And, the random stuff for P, I'm fine letting her play with it for a month or two and then donating it.


Cheers!
mouse