Spring is here and so begins the spring cleaning. It has been three years since we did a good spring cleaning, basically since I moved into this house. We are in desperate need of a good clean and in my opinion, a good purge.
Yesterday we began with the daughters room. We purged her closet of all of the leftover toys, clothing and stuffed animals from her childhood. Stuff she no longer wanted. It took 5 bags to goodwill, 3 bags to the garbage, and we still have stuff to purge. Her room is still full of stuff, but teenager stuff rather than child's stuff.
All of this 'stuff' we removed does make me question our materialism. It makes me wonder if we need all the stuff we buy. Sure some of it is convenient but is it stuff we enjoy owning or is it just stuff we buy to fill a void? I have a room full of scrapbooking / card making stuff that I have collected for years and I feel guilty every time I look at it. I don't want it anymore but have no idea what to do with the thousand of dollars of stuff that is there. It takes up precious real estate in our home, a room that could be better put to use. Everywhere I look at our house I see the same issues. Books by the dozen on bookshelves never read, outdoor activity supplies for small children, hundreds of dvd's for movies never watched. How does one collect so much stuff? And more importantly - what does one do with all that stuff once it is no longer needed?
So I will begin the slow and painful process of spring cleaning with the occasional purging. I will try and get the house down to stuff we use and really enjoy, take pleasure in owning. We will keep the best of the stuff we own, get rid of those things that aren't used regularly, organize the home and generally overhaul it all.
Or I will get lazy like last year and leave it be.
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