Too Much Stuff

I've been having a great time discussing the last couple of posts. I'm grateful that there are people that I know and people I don't know that are reading this blog. I started it to teach myself writing discipline and document areas in my family's life that I wanted to improve, but the ways that others have responded, taught me from their own experiences and challenged me to deeper levels of faith in areas I need to grow has been humbling. Thank you for reading.

I come back to the matter of finances again today. I've come to realize something in my adulthood that I never knew as a child growing up in the home of the pastor of a small town church.

You can have too much.

As a child, I never felt that we were destitute or poor. I couldn't even tell you now if we were. We did have to be careful with money. We did live frugally and conservatively. We wore hand-me-downs and once or twice I remember people bringing us boxes of food and we were grateful for it.

I didn't spend a great deal of time pining for things I couldn't have. I know I did the usual whining that kids do, but I never really felt like anything was truly missing from my life.

Then I went from Pastor's daughter to engineer's wife. We are by no means wealthy, and being an engineer, MacGyver has a personality that is practical and frugal, so we don't spend to extremes. We don't spend what we don't have. And the budget we have agreed on is not suggestions, it is the bottom line.

We have everything we need. We have enough to spend extra to have healthier foods and products. We have enough for quality clothing and fun vacations with our family. And I'm thankful for this.

But we have too much stuff. Some days I wish I could just dump it all on the curb. I am constantly picking up the same 17 pairs of shoes, the same 600 toys and game parts and the clothes are everywhere!

So in the next month (before birthdays and Christmas hit us again) we are getting rid of extra toys, clothes, and all the things that just get crammed in corners and set to the side to deal with later. If it doesn't get played with much, doesn't mean anything to anyone, or tends to end up all over the floor and under foot - it's history.

I'm not sure what the Kidney Foundation does with all this stuff. But as long as it isn't my problem anymore - I'll just be happy to dump it on my front porch for them to whisk away.

Oh, and everyone wish MacGyver a happy birthday!

To Live Simply

Yes, I'm a little behind. We went up to see MacGyver's parents for a few days and do some homeschool trips to museums and such. You're looking at the Hale family homestead, circa 1800.


When I stepped into the tiny one room cabin and looked around, I had a strange thought. When everyone else would be marveling that someone actually lived on so little, I felt jealous.

What would life be like if I had so little to keep track of? Tiny room with few belongings, garden, animals, and miles and miles of empty land. It sounds refreshing. It evokes the same feeling in me as taking a deep breath of crisp clean air.

Then my more cynical side reminds me that my simple life would have a few accompaniments. Disease. Accidents. Winter. Summer. Bugs. Bears. Wolves. Dirt. Very dark nights.

Sure, MacGyver and I could make it. Our kids would definitely whine less. (Or maybe more...) We'd toughen up and live off the land. But I suppose it would be hard to ever go from a life of luxury to a life where you live to survive instead of live to enjoy.

But I still believe that we can live with less. I'm still firmly settled that we have too much stuff, we take up too much space and use up too many resources. It's ridiculous in the light of most of history. What made us so entitled to so much? Do we realize our descendants might someday dig up their past and find a disgusting layer of trash and junk? I'm embarrassed.

I wish there was a place to go to live simply as in this log cabin - just for a few days or weeks. To learn what we can really do for ourselves. To realize what we really don't need.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.