We're Possessed By Our Possessions

So says my friend Jan, who said that to me at lunch last month and gave me permission to use the phrase. I think it so describes many of us. We were talking about people moving to smaller spaces, scaling down, and how hard it is to get rid of stuff.

We have now lived in our current home for over five years. Every closet is packed to the gills, and the huge storage closet in the garage is filled to the brim with boxes. What's in the boxes? Mostly dishes, silver, trays, linens, tablecloths, bedding, and books. Do I need these things? Obviously not, if I haven't used any of them in over five years. But how do I part with these treasures? I've thrown out or given away a few things, but I can't seem to give up the rest. I keep thinking that one day again I will have a home with storage space. Maybe. I do believe we are possessed by our possessions.

Many other people I know have gone through the same process. When Fran moved from her house to a townhouse, she lost alot of storage space. She took an outdoor storage locker to keep the things she couldn't part with. Now she is scaling that down to a smaller space, but still not giving it up all together.

My mom, who still lives in the home in which I was raised and has LOTS of space, is trying to clean out the garage. She's been at it for years, literally, and it finally looks empty. She had stuff from 70 years ago. How she parted with it I do not know, but she did get rid of so much.

There are people you can hire to clean out closets for you, but how can they do that? I need to go through everything and make sure it is something I can part with. How will a stranger know if something is valuable to me or not?

I remember years ago when many of my friends lost their homes in the Bel Air fire in Los Angeles. They learned that possessions are just things that can replaced. There are very few items in any of our homes that we couldn't live just as well without. So when someone wants to go shopping, I rarely go. I do not need more things. I do not need more clothes, purses, shoes or chochkes (trinkets). It's just more stuff to possess me.