How Much Stuff Is Too Much Stuff?

I love stuff. I love random gadgets and electronic toys, I love books, I love candles and picture frames and random little things that you put on ledges because they're too cute to hide but you can't seem to find a real PLACE in the house where they specifically belong.

As many of you know, three years ago I had to move suddenly and took with me a (really big) suitcase, a computer, and not much else (everything else went into a storage unit). After about a year, we ran out of money to pay for the unit and didn't have the money (or space) to move all of our stuff to our current apartment. So, we got rid of all of it.

As someone who loves stuff, that was a painful decision for me! I still miss my light switches/dimmers with the remote control (so that I could set the level of lighting I wanted without ever having to leave the bed, that was my favorite gadget of all time! If I could steal one thing back from that storage unit, that would be it. Anybody know where I could buy a new one?) I miss the bookcase my dad bought and painted for me when I was 5, the desk J bought for me when I quit work to move in with him and go back to school, and I miss all the purses and shoes and random things I can't even remember at this point. And even this many years later, I admit that just thinking about all of those things makes me kind of weepy and nostalgic because I still want all my stuff back.

But when we actually got rid of it, nothing in our life changed (well, it even got better, because we didn't have that expense anymore!) We bought the things we NEEDED when we moved (some non-plastic kitchen-ware, a mattress, a table to put our computers on) and over time, we've replaced some of that original stuff (as of a month and a half ago, we have a COUCH! And a CHAIR that I can sit on when we have company, instead of sitting on the floor! It's like being civilized again!) But was my life any worse without my cute lamps? Of course not. I still missed them, but unless I thought about them specifically, there was never any point during my day when I thought, "Darn! If only I had that super cute little lamp right now, things would be so much better!"

So obviously, I am not one to preach minimalism, because I really just love things too much to try to deny it ;) But at some point it's interesting to ask yourself, "How much stuff is too much stuff?" For this guy, the answer is that pretty much all of his stuff is too much stuff ;) I'm not going to go that far, but I do recommend the "moving test" (that I just made up right now, but is really too brilliant to keep to myself).

This is the test:

You have two days to move out of your home and into another home (it could be a similar sized home, or a bigger or smaller one, that part isn't important). The catch is that you have to do the moving yourself. Well, in real life your friends and family probably wouldn't let you shoulder that kind of burden (hahaha, literally and figuratively! I'm so clever sometimes) alone. So let's say that you can have one person help you. (Now, as someone who has moved a LOT, I'd like to take a moment to remind you that even if that one friend is really big and burly, it is horribly time consuming and emotionally draining to set up boxes, pack them, tape them, move them to a vehicle, take them out of a vehicle, unpack them, break down the boxes, and put everything away.) At the end of the first day, when you realize that you won't be able to finish moving everything in the time you have left, what do you get rid of?

I think the most "spring cleaning" I've ever done is in the middle of a move, because at some point I end up getting so mad at my stuff that I just start chucking it in the trash ;)  And that's why this is such a great test (though admittedly, once I wish I didn't seem to keep doing annually!) The things that REALLY matter to you (wedding photos, favorite clothing items, your blankie your grandma made you when you were a baby) will make it through all of those moves. The rest of the stuff that you've collected along the way without meaning to (old tee-shirts you don't wear anymore, batteries that may or may not be dead, mostly empty bottle of lotion) are suddenly, very obviously, not worth keeping around. It's just not worth the effort it would take to move them. And if it's not worth the effort, why on earth do you still have it lying around, anyhow?

So, while I would like to not have to put myself through that test again for at LEAST another 6 months (or a year, that would be nice!) I think it's helpful to keep in mind when contemplating a purchase. "Do I want this lamp so badly that I'd go through the hassle to move it across the state, if I had to?" And if the answer is "no", then save yourself the hassle (and the money!) and move on to lunch, because that is a purchase that you can enjoy without having to worry about packing and moving 6 months from now :)