The Problem of Stuff
All but one cupboard in the kitchen, and all the cabinets in the sunroom, have been unloaded and mostly packed. Most of the utensils and dishes and pots and stuff are going into the little house in the back yard, which is now crammed to its tiny rafters. All the food has been sealed up and packed into boxes, or kept out but shelved in the basement for use during construction.
Throughout this process I have attempted many times to get rid of stuff. But the minute one of the girls sees a tatty old melamine plate on the Yard Sale pile I hear, "Not this! You can't give this away! I used to eat chicken nuggets from that plate when I was tiny." Or, "But that's a funny mug!" Like we don't have ten other equally humorous mugs in the house. I have managed to sideline some stuff, and perhaps when we're re-shelving everything at the tail end of this project I'll be able to grab out some more.
The other problem is that I have a hard time throwing things out. Which is not to say I can't get rid of them, but if they're still useful, I want someone to get the good of them. So I make a pile of Goodwill stuff, and find that people have walked by it and liberated items that caught their eyes (we don't have this problem with stuff that has been thrown out, because Uchhhh, it touched other icky stuff). When the new kitchen (with, hallelujah, the nice working appliances) is done, the temptation among all parties, myself sadly included, will be to accrue new stuff. Am gonna try to hold firm.
Throughout this process I have attempted many times to get rid of stuff. But the minute one of the girls sees a tatty old melamine plate on the Yard Sale pile I hear, "Not this! You can't give this away! I used to eat chicken nuggets from that plate when I was tiny." Or, "But that's a funny mug!" Like we don't have ten other equally humorous mugs in the house. I have managed to sideline some stuff, and perhaps when we're re-shelving everything at the tail end of this project I'll be able to grab out some more.
The other problem is that I have a hard time throwing things out. Which is not to say I can't get rid of them, but if they're still useful, I want someone to get the good of them. So I make a pile of Goodwill stuff, and find that people have walked by it and liberated items that caught their eyes (we don't have this problem with stuff that has been thrown out, because Uchhhh, it touched other icky stuff). When the new kitchen (with, hallelujah, the nice working appliances) is done, the temptation among all parties, myself sadly included, will be to accrue new stuff. Am gonna try to hold firm.