Friday, March 4, 2011

Stuck in the closet....

Now back in NYC, okay, Jersey City to be exact, but I look out to the Statue of Liberty and Wall Street so I feel like I live in NYC.  I've jumped into my To-Do list of cleaning out all the stuff we don't want and box up the keepers worth the cost of shipping it to France.


WOW, we, (correction, I) have a lot of stuff!!  You wouldn't know it by looking, I hide it well in the closets and drawers, but when you get into it, there's a lot of STUFF. James likes to quote some guy who says something about a person should only own 100 things. Hmmm, really? Is that even a possibility? And then he says that includes underwear. OK, now you've lost me. 


I did the first tackle of the kid's clothes and my clothes and have made a big pile to take to Salvation Army and the York Street Project in Jersey City that houses women with children in crisis.  (Just throwing decent things in the trash is something I hate doing.) And I say the "first" tackle, cause with me it takes a few clean outs to finally get to the stuff I really should keep.  


We hold on to things so tightly that we really don't need and it all just take up space.  It's like our things make us feel comfortable and the more we have the more comfortable we think we should feel.  But when we accumulate too much stuff, at least for me, it feels suffocating.  I sometimes want to just throw it ALL out and start over.  That thought in my mind feels so refreshing.  But it's soooo hard to do.  There always seems to be some reason why I should keep that page I tore out of a magazine.  Like one day I'll actually make that craft project with the kids or cook that delicious meal.  Hahahahahha... sorry, break for laughter.


I think my need for "things" comes from my mother.  She's a bit of a hoarder but a VERY neat one.  By watching her I was trained to have things just in case I might need them, and that if I like that green sweater so much I should get one in every color they offer.  Once we were going to have a B-day party for Taylor and she burst out of her storage locker with three tubs full of party supplies.  I mean EVERYTHING you might need for a full blown party.  Including warming trays!  I admit it all came in very handy and the party was a success.  But the cost to store it equals out to probably more than if I went to the store to buy all the "stuff" each time I needed it.  I mean, how many parties does she have in a year?  I'll tell you, none.  Just seems not worth the cost or space to keep it all.


So, as a result I'm always fighting my desire to be minimalistic and my need to feel prepared for a sudden need to caulk the bathroom.  It's quite a fight.  Sometimes I think I'm winning, but then a trip to Target blows all the progress I made. :)


The funny thing is that my husband has next to nothing.  He is the total opposite of me in that way.  And so while he tries to get me to downsize I try to get him to go shopping.  But in reality, he does need some new clothes.  The man has 15 items in his closet!  That of course does not include socks and underwear, cause that'd be just crazy! 


I just have to keep in mind that if we want to be travelers of the world, I have to keep only the necessities.  Can't keep lugging this stuff from country to country!  Ruthless Shellee, be ruthless.


So, enough writing, I gotta get back to the clean out.....


The view of Manhattan from our corner of the world.

2 comments:

  1. Such lovely photos. So great to have stumbled upon your blog - I love it! XO Laura

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your blog is lovely! Adorable pictures these are.
    Have a happy day xx

    ReplyDelete

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