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An inlaw of mine begged us to NOT leave all our junk when we die for survivors to deal with. That inspired me to start looking critically at every piece of stuff in my house and ask how much sacrifice it would be to give it away. I've barely scratched the surface, but I've found 20-30 things to offer to the public via a local website that is only for offering free stuff. I don't expect the pace to be breathtaking, but it is making me look at possessions in a new (or very old) way. 50 years ago, when I had next to nothing, I was pretty happy having it that way. One time I just gave away everything I couldn't fit into 2 pieces of luggage. Then I married a packrat who refuses to move. So the pile just started accumulating like silt on the bottom of a slow river. That's the trouble. Slow down and it accumulates.
So I was thinking about the Baby Boomers who are just one year younger than me. We championed a lifestyle in the 60's that still looks valid to me. I would guess we have trillions of dollars of stuff we could pass on to younger generations in search of that Shangrila we once visualized. My thought: Wouldn't that be great? Every dollar not spent for something you can get free is a dollar not propping up governments who don't share our hippie values. But it would be a revolutionary change of perspective. Revolutions tend to get snuffed out in the USA.
I was born in 1957 and my wife in 1959 so we came of age a little late for the purely hippie culture, although my wife saw its waning days during her childhood in Northern California.
I'd have to say that even though I'm a native midwesterner and former evangelical, I've somehow managed to be remarkably unattached to things. I've accumulated 3 households worth of "stuff" in my life, each one associated with my significant other of the time, and I've clearly done it all for them because I've basically shoveled it all into the garbage after each relationship ended and started out with little other than a car, whatever real estate equity I had, and the clothes on my back. During these brief interregnums I've been perfectly content. I literally drove across the US and moved into an Extended Stay America when I was courting my current wife, as I had no patience with long distance relationships. Eventually the possessions I left behind were shoveled (almost literally) into a Salvation Army truck, and I'm talking nice stuff too, not the contents of a mobile home or something.
I now live in a 1900 square foot home full of mostly new "stuff" because my current wife still likes to "nest" and has children who she wants to come home from college once in awhile and acknowledge her existence and thus she wants to create an attractive destination. If it had been left up to me I'd be in a 500 square foot studio apartment with little other than a bed and a kitchen table that would double as an office desk. So once again I'm spending $$ on something to feel subjectively like I'm "providing" for my "family". I have a lawn to mow and it makes me feel useful and needed. I am completely aware that it's an illusion, yet I do it. Go figure. I feel lucky that I managed to shoehorn her life into a home 1/3 smaller than the one I extracted her from.
mordant...I was born in 1958 and you described me in your post. I'm on my own now and a mix of you and your wife when it comes to the old homestead. My place is small by todays standards at 1580 sq ft, but half that is all I need or want. What holds me back is that I still have a college kid living here but in the next few years I may want to rethink this place, even though financially it may make sense to stay put. Sometimes the change itself is worth it's weight in gold.
I always donate donate donate....sometimes monthly. Cleaning out the garage, closets, storage bins, letting go of the old when I get something new, and even deciding I don't want this "stuff" anymore. It's liberating. But my guess is there will still be plenty left when I'm gone.
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