blogger profile

Kelly Love Johnson

Skirt! managing editor

Writer, editor, author, independent girly feminist hipster, slightly neurotic, cynically optimistic, compassionately liberal, fiscally conservative, somewhat intellectual, and always irreverent. ...

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Do you really need any more stuff?

Kelly Love Johnson

This is spray painted on the sidewalk near my office and I passed by it on my way back from a lunch meeting yesterday.

I have been thinking lately about downsizing. I live alone in a pretty large house. I have a guest room I seldom use (except as a dressing room and closet). I have accessories and jewelry and clothing I haven’t worn in over a year. I have books on shelves, in stacks, in boxes, in closets. I have two different speaker systems for my iPod and only use one of them regularly (logic: the other one is a backup? A loaner?). I have hundreds of CDs that have already been imported into iTunes.

I want to lighten my load and simplify my life. Some ideas: A friend told me about Freecycling a few years ago and I subscribed to the newsletter, but I’ve yet to offer anything of my own. I can write Goodwill donations off on my taxes. My niece and her boyfriend just moved into their new apartment and could probably use some furniture. Trust that iTunes will not wipe out my songs and finally get rid of those CDs. And because I have bags of nearly-new and new clothes that are now too big for me, a friend suggested consignment. And instead of getting rid of my 1950s formica dining room table and buying something new, another friend suggested we switch (because she loves mine and hers is round and made from wood and would look good in my dining room). 

So the answer is no, I do not need any more stuff. I need to get rid of the stuff I already have. And I think I’m going to have a busy Spring Cleaning weekend!