@rnmom wrote:
@jannabelle1- I totally agree with this too, what used to be important to me just isn't so important anymore. I have purged a ton of stuff that I had accumulated as a child, teen and even young adult. I just had no use for it anymore. I had all sorts of items stored in the basement at my old house. Hubby and I bought that house in 2010 when I was about 29. I had clothes, totes full of books that I had from my teenage years, skis, tennis rackets, hand me down household items, decor items, keepsakes, you name it. Before we moved into our current home I went thru all of it and got rid of most all of it. By then we had 2 small kids and all that stuff just seemed useless. It was hard getting rid of some of the items, but I was at a different point in my life then.
I also think that, at least for me, I held onto a lot of that stuff because at one time I didn't have very much. Just getting out of college and starting out with nothing, I kept everything, because I thought I might be able to use it and it might save me money, especially if someone gave me something for free. Now, 25 years later, hubby and I are more financially secure and I don't worry so much about not having enough or having to replace something when it's gone. For example, I just set aside 3 sets of sheets to donate, one for our bed and one for each of the kids beds. We don't like any of them because they are too "slippery" and slide all over the mattress. I was keeping them "just in case" we needed them. I finally set them aside to donate. I figure if the sheets we are using now get too worn I'll get us some that we actually like using. See, I'm still a work in progress, even after all these years.
@rnmom
THe part of your post I highlighted above is something I can relate to very much.
We were not poor growing up, but honestly when I look back, my parents made very little money and I'm surprised we had as much as we did. But life was so different.
For many many years, my mom had just two sets of dishes. The everyday set of four in the kitchen, and our 'china' (which was actually the Currier and Ives set that people got in the 50's or early 60's from the grocery store) for Sunday and holiday dinners that decorated her hutch in the dining room.She still has the same modest set of pots and pans and the few baking dishes she had all those decades ago). She had just enough to get the job done. I on the other hand probably have at least 6 full sets of service for 8 or 12 people and every accessory available (and much more on top of that).
We grew up in old homes that had very small closets. I never had more than five dresses (one for each day of school), and two pairs of shoes, one for good, one for school (and the last nearly outgrown and worn out pair for play). We had one pair of snow boots each year too. My mom did laundry every day, so there were always clean clothes, but our dressers drawers were nearly empty. A weeks worth of underwear and socks, a couple of flannel nightgowns made by grandma, and a few sets of seasonal appropriate old clothes for playing/working outside.
So I remember when I started working and making my own money, I had only the basics too. I had a hope chest, and moved out with just enough to get the job done.
Something happened in the following decades, and I think the worst of it came for me, when I started in retail management at thrift stores like Goodwill and Volunteers of America. It was the 1980's and antiques were big. Between what I would find to buy at work, and all the 'antiquing' and flea marketing we did on the weekends, the spaces began to fill. Then in the mid 90's I started watching QVC, and that added even more things.
And I too, kept 'just in case'. If I had a perfectly nice set of new pans, I put the older but still good ones in the basement. Same with the Corningware and Pyrex after Temp-tations took over my life. I will say, I'm glad I did with those kinds of things. Many of the newer and flashier pots, pans, stoneware etc. have come and gone, and I've gone back down in the basement to retrieve my good old standbys that will last and perform forever.
But other things, like toys, books, home decor, have continued to take up more and more space, and now needs to be dealt with. Collecting things because I could get them so terribly cheap has taken a toll on our space, and saving things to pass down (which a whole truck load did go off with my son to his new apartment last year when he moved YIPEE!!) did as well. And I have had at least a half a dozen big yard sales, and donated many car loads over the last 20 years. It is starting to sink in just how much we have acquired over the years.
I hear you about hanging on to things you don't even really like, simply because they are good and you might need them (your sheets), and because you paid good money for them, and it kind of stings (your financial awareness of wasting the money on them) to dispose of them, even when you know you can afford to buy more.
I'm actually looking around at certain things, and at even just 57, thinking that should I live a long life, I still have more of certain things than we will probably every be able to go through (towels and dishes!). In doing so, I'm slowly pulling things out and either giving them away or selling them.
The other big thing I have issues with is quality. For instance I have lots of great condition old towels from the 1970's through the 1990's. I keep them and we use them because even though I've bought lots of newer towels in more updated colors and style to match the decor of my bathrooms, they are junk and don't work as well or stay as nice looking as the old ones have. So yes, I get new and pretty for display and guests and 'the look' I want, but don't let good of a lot of the old because the new just isn't the same good quality and it won't last. I've done the same as noted earlier with lots of cookware and kitchen things too. So definitely the lack of quality in most of todays goods keeps me hanging on to the older stuff.
Yep, you are right, always a work in progress, the house and me!
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