Stuff, and the un-gathering of such

I love stuff.  I love getting, having and sharing stuff. Not necessarily expensive stuff either; some of the best stuffs in life are free!  All kinds of stuff.   Catalogs, shoes, chocolates (ok, those don't last long enough in my house to qualify as having stuff), DVDs (it used to be VHS and now it tends to be Blu-Ray), pieces of pottery, clothes, spices, magazines, and boots.  And that's just to name a few things.  

And now I can get little stuffs in little boxes once a month.  Stuff like Birchbox and ipsy.  Which means I have lots of little stuff, PLUS lots of little boxes and bags!  But I digress....

I don't really fall into the category of collector.  Oh, there are a few things I dabble at collecting, like tiny clocks.  I have a very nice collection of tiny clocks from all over the world.  And someday I'll find the box they are in and get them all back out.  They aren't really the issue here, though.  My entire collection would probably fit in two shoe boxes.  

I am by no means a hoarder, either.  I toss the newspaper after we look at it (usually on Sunday for the puzzle and sports and coupons).  I feel no need to save detergent containers or milk cartons or tp tubes or water bottles.  In fact, except for tp and tissues, I don't even buy paper products any more.  We use cloth napkins and bar rags and the like for all the cleaning in the house now.  I don't usually stock up on umpteen cans of soup or boxes of pasta or condiments (except Frank's Red Hot for some reason) just because they are on sale (although it is good to be prepared.  You know, the zombies and the apocalypse and all that.).

I generally like my stuff to be useful, and I usually will gather stuff with a purpose in mind.   And then I get busy, or lose my focus, or find something else to do, or just... you know, be a gemini.

For example,  I will have two or three magazines on the side table and think to myself, I should read those.  Then life happens and before I know it,  two seasons have  passed, there are 14 or 20 magazines in a toppling tower, and I get overwhelmed and just can't face them.  Yes, that's right, I let a stack of magazines guilt trip me into avoidance.  Same thing with catalogs; I'll stack them up and wait to read them until I have a big block of time.  Ha!  Free time in big blocks!  Well, that so rarely happens that I end up with a pile of them so overwhelming that I end up just chucking them all in the recycling bin unread.  At least I am recycling, but it's such a waste.

My tea pot collection has gotten so large that I "store" them all on display in the Children's Room at work.  Well, not all of them.  I do have a few really nice ones at home.  But, for the most part, I only use them at work for tea parties and so they just stay there all year.

I also have a massive yarn stash, several ideas (and the stuff) for crafts and house stuff, bins of fabric for garb and other things, and the little identification pick for every plant in each of my gardens.  But these aren't the problems I am concerned with right now.  So, on to the crux of the matter.  Clothes.

Clothes are a big issue for me, and not because it's expensive.  I have rarely bought anything at full price; I always look for the great sales.  I have always loved to clothes shop (I come by that naturally), and I adore a good bargain.  So when I see a great something or other on deep discount, I buy it.  In Every Single Color.  Needless to say, my closet(s) and drawers are overwhelmingly full and overflowing.  I have bins of off season clothes in the basement, and I still don't have enough space.  And this week, when we joined the gym, my first thought was, "Ooh, I can buy some new gym clothes!"  One might also say that I have a Woot Shirt addiction (visit and explore at your own peril!).

One of the reasons is that I have gained a bit of weight since we bought the house.  You know, settling in, cooking every day, getting domestic and nesting and all that.   So, out of necessity I bought more clothes, in a larger size; not a lot, but enough to get by at work and play.   So now I have several wardrobes of differing sizes; and I wear pieces from all of it, depending on the day and my mood and the time of the month.  It's rather ridiculous, really, but there it is.

Fast forward to today.  Well, actually rewind a month....  I have set myself a challenge (starting on September 1).  For the 2014/15 school year I am not buying any clothes.  That includes all clothing (except the occasional bra/pantie/tights that may need to be replaced), new and vintage/thrift and *gulp* garb.  I will also be spending that time going through my closets and drawers and bins and brutally culling items that are impractical.  I mean, I have three size 8 formal evening gowns.  Right, I can see myself wearing those lots.  *sigh*

So, this challenge is partly to get my wardrobe down to a manageable size, without adding to the mess while I am getting myself back to a manageable size.  I have some awesome clothes that are just a tad too small to wear comfortably, and that is one hell of an inspiration to keep going to the gym.

I even talked myself down from the "new gym clothes" ledge with the promise that if the stuff I have now gets so loose that it's falling off, I will let me buy some new workout clothes.  As I currently workout in t-shirts and yoga capris (I am all about comfort and movability at the gym), that isn't likely to happen.  But don't tell me that.  ;)

Thanks for listening.

p.s.  You may have noticed I made no mention of books in this entire post.  To anyone who knows me, that may seem odd, as I own approximately a gazillion books (and that's not counting the Kindles).   I defend that lack of mention, however, with one simple statement ~ Books are not mere stuff.   They are a life necessity.