Stuff

By guest writer, Denise Altman

Stuff – paraphernalia – trappings – accouterments – belongings.  There are many words for the things we collect as the years roll on.  Some people are very attached to their “stuff.”  I am not one of those people.  Luckily, neither is my husband.

In our 21 years of marriage, we have lived in 9 different homes.  We didn’t move because of work or other obligations, we just moved. 

One thing this moving tendency will do for you is to help you learn that “stuff” isn’t usually worth moving.  Every time we move, we clean out.  A few times, we have sold nearly everything we had and started over.  We are in the process of doing that once again.

There is something cathartic about letting go of things.  This isn’t so much philosophical or spiritual, but rather, physical.  I feel lighter knowing that I don’t have to pack and unpack crates of furniture and boxes of stuff.  And I can pick new things that better fit in our new place, when the time comes.

A few years ago, we were in the midst of a hurricane warning (we live at the beach).  This one was going to be a big one, and we had to evacuate.  We first went through the house, taking pictures of our belongings for insurance purposes.  

Then we decided to look around and see what we would want to take with us if we knew the house would be completely gone when we returned.  The result of that discussion…one plastic storage bin.  What was in it, you ask?  Mostly artwork our children had produced decades earlier, along with a few important legal documents.  

After looking through the house, there was really nothing else that couldn’t be easily replaced.  We could buy more furniture, linens, dishes, clothes.  We had many of our pictures already captured digitally or in the hands of our children, so we didn’t have to worry about those.  

We put that one bin in the car, along with our dog, Miss Priss, and headed for safety.  We found that exercise to be very meaningful.  

Some folks might think we are materialistic people – we typically live in a nice home and nice things.  But at the end of the day, we know what really matters.  And it isn’t the “stuff.”