Thoughts on Too Much Stuff

Hi all, I don't know where the days go at the moment but the weeks seem to be flying by! I've been on a manic decluttering again, which has resulted in a big trip to the tip on Sunday and a trip to the Op Shop yesterday. It's SO good to get all that 'stuff' out of my house and backyard. I only wish my place LOOKED like it had been decluttered!!

Here's a pic of the trailer and back of friends 4WD on our way to the tip.

The trouble is, I am really good at organizing, so my place does look a little cluttered, but not terribly so. You see I have dozens of 55 litre tubs in my bedroom floor to ceiling on shelves so that I can access my fleeces, yarn, finished projects, not finished projects, and so on. So the place doesn't LOOK too bad. BUT ...... I FEEL like things are coming in on me and I want to scale back a LOT. And I mean a LOT!

But how does one choose what to get rid of? What if I want to go back to that hobby? I spent all that money getting all the tools and paints and papers and brushes and glues and books and information on that hobby, and now what? Do I just chuck it? Freecycle it? Sell it? (No way, that takes too long). What if in a few weeks/months I decide I want to get back into art again and play around and all/most of my stuff is gone? What then?

I've thrown out a LOT of fleeces, those that I KNOW I won't enjoy spinning. Friend who was helping me commented that I 'spent good money on those fleeces......?' NOT what a declutterer wants to hear. But when I bought them I hadn't spun that breed before and thought I'd give it a go. When I tried them out it was pure hell and I don't want my spinning to be hell, I want to enjoy it, so OUT they went!!

The other question is, what does one DO with all the yarn she spins??? I've known for a while that's it's the actual PROCESS of the spinning that I enjoy, not having the finished yarn to actually MAKE something with. And now I'm getting snowed under with handspun yarn. "Well sell it" I hear you say. I don't know if I want to, or even could sell it. A lot of it is just a couple of balls of this or that, and much of it isn't real soft for skin touching items..... So what does one do?? My tubs are getting fuller and fuller and I look at them and just wish they'd STOP breeding.....

I've been reading a lot about Minimalism, where people live happy/comfortable lives with just the bare minimum of things. It costs them less, they don't have clutter, it's easier for them to move house, it's easier for them to clean, and so on and so on.

I wish for this style of life, BUT am I really that sort of person?? I do love my junk, there's just too much of it. That's part of the thrill for me, getting a new hobby and then going out and getting ALL the new tools/supplies/books for it. I guess it's part of the chase for me.... And then I end up feeling overwhelmed and here we go again, a bit decluttering starts....... more therapy for me perhaps?????