That has been the longest running joke in my family of origin that is NOT Monty Python related. It came at a time we were trying to clean out the clutter built by previous generations of my family at a lake home they'd purchased as a way to stay together as adults. The lake home was passed along and my parents were the final caretakers before it became too much and we let the whole place go. But the amount of stuff, junk, treasures, whatever you want to call it, was just so hard to get through. It was overwhelming and we tried to find the humor in the process.
The other lingering catch phrase (originally uttered in a moment of great despair/frustration) is "my ancestors could have been rich if they hadn't bought so much shit."
I'm working on my own clutter now. It includes items that came from that lake home, it includes items that came from my own parents, and we store a lot of my children's stuff/junk/treasures. My father is in assisted living but may be moving to memory care. That will bring about another round of "stuff processing" and I really don't have room to store things. It is well past time to get very serious about this whole declutter issue.
I know that we're all supposed to just get rid of things without feeling guilty and I get that. I want to get rid of things but I also want to keep my money. I've got a plan for my clothes which will sound like I'm running counter to the conventional wisdom of decluttering. Here's the backstory:
I was happily subbing and we planned to have me just continue to sub until I couldn't anymore. I wouldn't actually have a retirement date so much as just slowly decrease the number of days I work in a week until I faded off into the sunset. With this plan, I really only needed one, maybe two, actual work outfits per week. I had whittled my wardrobe down and all my clothes- I mean ALL - could fit in my dresser. It was the fulfillment of a dream I've always had.
Last fall, I got a call from my neighborhood school to return to the classroom. The money and location were just too tempting. I agreed. The immediate realization of working in the same location for a whole school year lead to panic, what will I wear?! I mean, seriously, I had about 2 outfits that would work. So, I went on a little spree. And then I did it again when the weather got colder...and again when spring rolled in...Now I have too many clothes and no contract for next fall. (That is another story - long and short is that education is a brutal business and numbers/budgets/age etc. all play a role in your long term success) So I have a bunch of pretty much new clothes that I really don't need to make use of next term.
My little plan is to create a "capsule" wardrobe from what I have and then pack the rest away to be my future capsules when the one I have wears out. I know, I know, but the thing is, I spent too much money and they are too new to just purge. I like the clothes, I just don't need to have so many choices and do so much laundry. I'm going to organize them into like items, and when I need a new pair of jeans? Well, I go shopping in the stored clothes first. I will make the deal with myself that if I pull a new shirt out of storage, an old shirt must be donated. This way, I'll have less to manage in my closet/dresser but I'll also not be spending money repurchasing very similar items to what I just did.
I'm going to try it anyway. Might be a fool's errand. Might just need to let things go but I'm not hating my clothes or having clothes that I'm not really wearing. The normal criteria for purging isn't going to work. I think shopping for clothes in my basement that I know I already like will help me save money as I fall back down to sub pay while allowing me to refresh my wardrobe periodically.
I am limiting my storage to two totes. So there will be some clothes that don't make the cut. So...while not a pure declutter/death clean...I think it will work for my situation. And in the end, isn't that what you want in your home? We'll see.
