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We often accumulate a lot of clutter as we traverse through life. It’s something we ourselves have tried to tackle with moderate success but could do a lot more on. This article discusses the Swedish perspective on our relationship with things. I hope you find it interesting.
I agree wholeheartedly with that article. Now, if I could only convince my husband he really won't defy gravity and fly off this earth if he doesn't have all that STUFF.........
I agree wholeheartedly with that article. Now, if I could only convince my husband he really won't defy gravity and fly off this earth if he doesn't have all that STUFF.........
Just focus on "your" stuff for now and if you can get him to part with any of "his" stuff along the way consider it a win.
It doesn't have to be done all at once. For instance, we have several heavy boxes of old vinyl albums. I was actually the one who carried those boxes up the stairs and stashed them away in a closet. Now, I don't know that I would even want to try carrying those heavy boxes down the stairs.
Occasionally, I'll pull out a few albums that are "mine", I'll check the value of them and then say to my husband "See any need to keep these?" He'll have no interest in those particular albums so out they go. If I tried to get rid of the entire box by efficiently dropping it off at our local record dealer (we seriously NEVER listen to them) - that would meet with some heavy resistance. It's a slow and steady process but those boxes are getting lighter with each and every pass.
"Prioritizing relationships and experiences over possessions" < That, right there.
But my possessions include mostly books, media discs and memorabilia through which I experience the world, and preserve a vivid memory of the most meaningful relationships (after the few most meaningful people in my life have died). When I read my travel books, I am vividly back in a certain place, or make plans to visit places where I haven't been yet. If I didn't have these possessions, I'd be staring at the wall rather than re-experiencing deep feelings, and wouldn't really know where to go next. So no, I can't get rid of my possessions. They are well organized, and my heir wouldn't have much difficulty disposing of them (but I suspect the heir will want to keep most of them).
I mean, obviously, relationships and experiences are the most important items in life, but one needs to have SOME possessions in order to have relationships and experiences. One must possess at least a toothbrush :-).
But my possessions include mostly books, media discs and memorabilia through which I experience the world, and preserve a vivid memory of the most meaningful relationships (after the few most meaningful people in my life have died). When I read my travel books, I am vividly back in a certain place, or make plans to visit places where I haven't been yet. If I didn't have these possessions, I'd be staring at the wall rather than re-experiencing deep feelings, and wouldn't really know where to go next. So no, I can't get rid of my possessions. They are well organized, and my heir wouldn't have much difficulty disposing of them (but I suspect the heir will want to keep most of them).
I mean, obviously, relationships and experiences are the most important items in life, but one needs to have SOME possessions in order to have relationships and experiences. One must possess at least a toothbrush :-).
Oh, I have no intentions of getting rid of all of our books. We will be keeping the ones that are meaningful to us which will not be an insignificant number. But not all of our collection is something that we need to keep anymore - those we have already started to part with, no regrets.
"Prioritizing relationships and experiences over possessions" < That, right there.
We are visual animals - otherwise we would be scent hounds! Hahaha!
Visual clues are important in keeping memories alive. Many of my prized possessions were presents from my beloved grandmothers and great aunts. While they died decades ago, those objects bring back my happy memories.
I also saved 65 years of cards from loved ones (I threw many other cards out). I struggle to throw out my favorite ones as so many of those cards senders are long gone.
I don't think we're talking about throwing away really priceless or unique heirlooms or mementos.
I don't know about you all, but in my house there are PLENTY of things that I call "in between," which means not obvious junk that's easy to throw away nor really precious items with incredible meaning. I find that over time these in between items lose their importance and we do our best to weed them out.
Like at Christmas when we're decorating the tree. Do we really cherish the chipped generic ornament that our uncle gave us one random year? Not really. To the trash!
Just this week we did a coffee mug downsizing. It's amazing how many gifted and promotional coffee mugs we accumulated and only two of us drink coffee and even then, not a ton. We had 1.5 shelves of coffee mugs not even counting the ones that came with our dinnerware. We donated/tossed at least half.
Ditto for reusable water bottles. God those things seem to reproduce on their own and 80% of them are uninsulated junk. To the trash! I don't care if I got one at a vacation destination, for me, it brings back zero memories.
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