Stuff

Today is the spring day I have been waiting for. I got up and it was sunny out, grabbed a pile of sweaters waiting to be washed and threw them into the washing machine. When it beeped I carried my pile outside and hung them out to dry. It makes me feel good. The clothes smell nice and it saves electricity. What could be better?
When I do things like this I wonder how we got to where we are today. I think I still blame highways. Everyone needs more, wastes more and wants more. Why is that? Not that long ago people lived on so much less. And I bet on some level they were much happier. Much more peaceful with way less stress in their life. I've spoken to my grandma about how she used to have 3 little girls under a year old at the same time back when they had to hand wash diapers. I told her I didn't know how she did it. Her response? Oh no Kristin, you have it harder today. For all our modern conveniences, she thinks we have it harder today. I guess on some level I agree.
It makes me want to purge all the unnecessary things we have in our life. Not necessarily big expensive things, but little things that clutter together. We had a yard sale last week and I keep finding more things I wish I had added to the pile. I want to rid our house of "stuff", but I don't want to throw it away. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We can start with the first R now, find ways to reuse things then move on to recycling.
I think lots of people are trying to work with this philosophy now and think they are green, but they really are doing things backwards. The three Rs come in that order for a reason. If you really want to be green you need to approach all "stuff" in the following manner-

1. Reduce. Don't buy it if you don't need it. Or if something you already have is good enough. Buy items with less packaging. Buy in bulk (as long as you will use it all within a reasonable amount of time).
2. Reuse. If something can serve another purpose, use it again. Or give it away to someone else that can use it. Or sell it. Mark's grandma was a master at this. She reused those styrofoam meat trays to put homemade cookies on and wrapped them in old cereal bags. Don't laugh, when that woman passed she had more money in the bank than anyone imagined. She was a true conservationist.
3. Recycle. Most people forget this is the last part of the cycle. If you bought fresh green beans instead of canned, you wouldn't have that can to recycle in the first place. Or maybe you can use it for something else? Decorate it and use it to hold flowers. Or do you need to get rid of it? Can it go to someone else who really can use it? Try http://www.freecycle.org/. Someone out there may be willing to take it off your hands. If it's going to a good use maybe you can just feel good that you aren't landfilling it, instead of holding onto it for the $5 you might get a yardsale.

Now, I'm not saying we should rid ourselves of all worldly possessions, stop showering and live in communes. I am just saying we should be more aware of how we approach "stuff". I know it's hard. I find it hard. I see something I want and the pull is great to just get it. Who cares, right? I have the cash. It's cute. But now I am trying to be more aware of how I spend my money and how I keep and cycle through all this stuff. And I am trying to teach the kids the same philosophy. We are very fortunate to have the stuff that we have. Lots of people have much less than we do. We work very hard to have what we have. But let's keep our eye on the real prize. When they get upset that a toy is broken, or when we won't buy them something at the mall I always tell them the same thing.

It's just stuff. Stuff isn't what's imporant in our lives. People and our relationships with them are what's important.

They are starting to get it too. We are certainly always going to have stuff. And toys-both big and small. We are just trying to keep it reasonable so as not to raise another generation of spoiled children who expect the world to be given to them on a silver platter.

So next time you are out shopping, or cleaning out a closet, think twice about your "stuff" and what's really important. And when you are done with that stuff, what will happen to it? Where will it go? Or who else can use it? Let's try to clean up this world, in more ways than one.

Kristin