Q is for Quantity

The person who dies with the most crap wins, right?  Wrong!
This is just how our society seems to deem worth - is on quantity of matierial goods.

I discovered how much of an issue I personally have with quantity of stuff when the show Hoarders came on, then Hoarding: Buried Alive came on.  Around my house these shows are not lovingly reffered to as Cristin's Therapy.  Yeah . . . seriously.

I have never gotten that bad but the issues are there.  The emotional attachment to stuff, the clutter blindness, the lack of concern when things start to pile up etc.

It is not that I like the look of it, I don't.  It just simply doesn't bother me as much as the average person.  Every week I have to go through the house and make the effort to clear off the old paper bits, throw stuff out, find another pile of things to sell or donate etc.  It seriously takes effort on my part to do what average people do daily.  It just does not come natrually to me.  Seeing what that problem can become keeps me in check.

About 2 years ago we finally had some semblance of organization in our house, then my father-in-law moved in for a couple months while he got settled.  We rented a storage unit to put the extra stuff in to make room for him.  Two years later he is still settled in nicely and has not plans to move out.  He is also not healthy enough - mentally or physically - to move out on his own.  So - we gave up the storage locker, sold a ton of stuff and crammed the rest in corners and cupboards and campers and sheds to go through.  We are doing that bit by bit but it is exhausting.

The other issue is the artistic nature of our family.  Everyone (except my son and my FIL) love to create stuff.  In the house currently are looms, brewing equiptment, a leather shop, yarn, fleece, metal working, bronze casting, sewing (LOTS of sewing stuff), knitting, lampworking, jewellry making etc, etc, etc.

We really need a couple of extra rooms to sort and house this stuff.  It does generate a revenue but it takes room and time and workspace.

Currently the studio I teach piano out of is a catch all for this vast amount of stuff that I stash before my students arrive and then it explodes afterwards again.  It is very labor intensive.

My goal these days is to reduce the quantity of my stuff and increase the quantity of my human interaction with friends.

Quantity can be a good thing - when it is about the right thing!!!