THE CULLING CONTINUES

Speaking of big moves, it's a good thing over the last year and half I've been busy clearing clutter and culling through the 'stuff' in my life. For many reasons. Simplifying, organizing, beautifying and so on. Who knew I'd be so grateful for this now that we are moving!

It's funny because I really thought I'd cleared out SO much! But when you start boxing things up - you really see how much you have.

I ran across this article while surfing the web for organizing and decorating tips. I've written quite a bit in the past about finding the "balance" about "wanting/having" and the "guilt" associated with too much 'stuff'.

I posted this on one of my other blogs and thought it was a good choice to post here. It has some great merits.

POST TITLE: VIRIDIAN: FROM THE LATIN 'VIRIDIS' - MEANING "GREEN"

The Last Viridian Note By Bruce Sterling

You may want to skip over the first 15 or so paragraphs of the article but here are some excerpts I thought were apropos for this time in my life as I cull through music, photographs, dishes, magazines, fabric, and over all "stuff" - I've been going through things for some time but am continuing the process.

1. It's not bad to own fine things that you like. What you need are things that you GENUINELY like. Things that you cherish, that enhance your existence in the world. The rest is dross. ...

2. The things that you use every day should be the best-designed things you can get. For instance, you cannot possibly spend too much money on a bed. ... The same goes for a working chair. Notice it. Take action. Bad chairs can seriously injure you from repetitive stresses. Get a decent ergonomic chair. ...

3. You will need to divide your current possessions into four major categories.

• Beautiful things.
• Emotionally important things.
• Tools, devices, and appliances that efficiently perform a useful function.
• Everything else.

4. "Everything else" will be by far the largest category. ... You should document these things. Take their pictures, their identifying makers' marks, bar codes, whatever, so that you can get them off eBay or Amazon if, for some weird reason, you ever need them again. ... Then remove them from your time and space.

5. Beautiful things are important. If they're truly beautiful, they should be so beautiful that you are showing them to people. They should be on display: you should be sharing their beauty with others. ...

6. All of us have sentimental keepsakes that we can't bear to part with. ... Is this keepsake so very important that you would want to share its story with your friends, your children, your grandchildren? ...

7. You will be told that you should "make do" with broken or semi-broken tools, devices and appliances. Unless you are in prison or genuinely crushed by poverty, do not do this. ... There is nothing more "materialistic" than doing the same household job five times because your tools suck. Do not allow yourself to be trapped in time-sucking black holes of mechanical dysfunction.