It’s just stuff, don’t over think it

I watch a lot of Bravo and TLC so I’m always up on the latest reality shows. I saw an ad for “Animal Hoarders” last year and I remember thinking, “how cute, animals who hoard.” I pictured a nature show following a little squirrel around as the squirrel hoarded a stash of nuts. Adorable right? Turns out, Animal Hoarders is actually about people who hoarded animals. Not cute!!!

Recently, I went home to help my family clear out our home. It was a liberating and sad experience sorting through a lifetime of stuff. Carefully selected, packaged, collected and curated stuff. Stuff built around a wonderful life, but the stuff needed to go in order to move on.

Day one and two, we diligently sorted through the garage making piles just like on those TV shows. All the HGTV watching finally paid off. We only had two piles, Goodwill and Trash. We were too lazy to make a Sell pile. Soon we ran out of sorting space in the garage so we had to call the 1800-Got-Junk guys to schedule a dump truck.

With the dump truck scheduled, we were up against a deadline so I immediately moved into the “throw it all out NOW” stage. I bought two boxes of construction grade super strong trash bags and started bagging everything up as trash. It went like this, “Mom, keep or trash...one...two...three...it’s trash.” Repeat this a few hundred times. After a while, I was desensitized to throwing things out and I was going a nuts having to make a keep/trash decision every 3 seconds. I was pretty aggressive and pushy, but plasticmom was a good sport and we got it done. 

Dump Truck 1

We decluttered every closet, cupboard, nook and cranny and had the Got Junk guys come back with a second dump truck later that week. The week flew by and soon I was back at the airport waiting to fly home to Boston. I sat by my gate, stared off into space and started to cry [a little]. The week had been emotional and I was rarely still for long enough to really process. My stuff is the stuff of my memories, my past, my identity. As I went through a lifetime of stuff, the experience triggered a ton of memories and emotions. 





Glee when I discovered my beloved childhood toys including an awesome dim sum fake food set. Little fake dumplings and shu mai in a little toy serving box.

Sadness when I discovered too many brand new things that were being “saved” because they were too nice to use. There was no longer enough time to use up all these nice things we had been saving.

Frustration when I threw out yet another neatly packed up box of hotel soap, scratch paper, tissues, toothbrushes, combs, etc. 

Vintage Charmin circa 2000

Laughter when I discovered “vintage” Charmin toilet paper featuring their retro logo and baby mascot. Charmin switched to the bears in 2000 so this TP was at least 13 years old

Nostalgia when I found all our old family photos of good times and not so good times. 

I’m privileged to live in the first world. I’m no aecetic! I fully embrace my stuff and love of acquiring stuff. I’m consumeristic and I know. What struck me is how stuff is simultaneously meaningful and meaningless at the same time. Maybe the theme is, “it’s just stuff, don’t over think it.”

plasticann...age 3

It’s just stuff, don’t overthink it

1. Don’t wait to use my “nice” things, use it today
2. Love the little hoarder in me within reason
3. Let go of stuff with no regret, the stakes are not that high...it’s just stuff

Bonus: Stop hoarding soap!!!