STUFF

Yesterday I was asked, “When was the last time you had all your belongings in one place?” My answer was, “Until today, October 2004.”

After living in what this city called ”the Halloween house” for almost ten years, where everything I owned was in one place, since November 1, 2004 it's been a bit difficult. Over time, I had collected so much STUFF. Like my mother, I've been a “saver.”

(Photo: half of sale) When I moved out of that big house, with a full attic and three-quarter basement, I moved into a small two-bedroom duplex. I rented a full sized storage shed where I put all the many boxes of extras that I didn't need at the time of the move. I needed to unpack and get settled first. The shed, the size to hold a car, was full. With working full-time and taking care of my ill mother, the shed never got cleaned out.

(Photo: second half of sale) In the summer of 2007, I finally decided to sort out the shed and have a HUGE yard sale on the shed's parking lot. I had some help and really cleaned out a lot of STUFF. (After the sale, I also took a trailer-load to Goodwill.) But I always seem to have so much STUFF. After my mother died, I had to go through her house and she had so much STUFF.

In order to move into her house, which was now mine, I had to combine her STUFF and my STUFF. I rented a small 5x10 storage shed to store the extra STUFF I didn't have room for after a large sale of combined STUFF. I sold what I could and stored the rest.

I recently got the “cleaning bug” after deciding I have too much STUFF. Last December I gave my nephew some extra furniture, lamps, and miscellaneous items. This year I cleaned closets, boxes, my backyard shed where my lawnmower is stored, and other areas of my house. I donated a lot of items to a political auction, and more to a friend's upcoming yard sale.

Therefore, it was time to give up the small storage shed and bring the rest of the STUFF home. Saturday was THE day. Two boxes and many tables were stored in the backyard shed with the mower. Some items were put in the attic. The other boxes are in my garage and I have given myself until the first week in November to go through them and trash the junk and yard sale the rest. The few items I might want to keep better fit in a tote that can be added to my attic.

It was a lot of work to move, sort, store, and deal with all the rest of my STUFF that is now all in one place – home. John and I were totally worn out and muscle-sore from all the hard work, and I went to bed early to sleep until the next afternoon. The accomplishment for all the sore muscles, the pain and overwork Saturday is that I have all my STUFF here now.