Getting Rid Of Stuff...And Why We Have It In The First Place

Last weekend we did a little de-cluttering at our house. We live in an area where there's an incredibly organized and efficient thrift store system. It's run by the LDS Church and there's major stores and donation centers across the state.

Personal note--shopping at these stores, called D.I. (short for Deseret Industries...), is one of my favorite things to do. I could hang out for hours just looking at stuff. I could, and when I had more time, I did. It's amazing to see things that have a history. They were not only produced, but most have spent time in people's homes. These items were bought as gifts, as necessary products, and as impulse buys.

We were re-organizing the boy's upstairs bedroom. When you re-organize, if some things come in, other things have got to go so we loaded up the van and headed to the donation center.

Apparently, we were not the only ones with the same idea.

We usually go on weekdays, not weekends. It's too busy. This time it couldn't be helped. We turned on to the road and realized we'd be waiting a bit--there was a back up just to get into the parking lot. Once we were off the street, I snapped a quick picture showing the line still waiting to get off the road. I posted the picture on social media and it got a lot of responses.

There was one that made me think.

A friend from Denmark wrote, "Hmmmm wonder if people should buy less stuff to begin with...less stuff, less to give/throw away..."

It's a fair point. We live in a land of opportunity and that means, many times, the opportunity to amass a ton of stuff. We're guilty of it. We have a storage room full of some important things, but also things we don't necessarily need. I remember growing up in a larger home that was full of a lot more stuff. Both my parents lived through the Great Depression and they saved. They saved recipes, they saved nails and screws and clothes and tools, and anything that they thought might be needed in the future. I think part of my "collecting" tendencies stem from my parents.

One room down. Hopefully, we'll keep going. And if we do, I'm sure we'll join dozens of others waiting to give stuff away.