Packing it Away

Today I began cleaning out my gardens for the winter....kind of early but I leave for Florida at the end of October. I severely cut down the silverleaf dogwoods at the front of the house and proceeded to pull down 4 of the 6 morning glory vines. I can't quite bring myself to pull up the flowering bedding plants yet but will have to do it in a few weeks. I stored the patio chairs in the tool shed and lashed the large patio table on it's side on the deck. It may be my imagination but everything looks pretty neat and organized in the yard this year. One of the reasons is that I've cleared out tons of unnecessary things from the shed and the driveway and given them to Goodwill or tossed them in the garbage. There is still lots to go but I've done enough paring down for this year.

I've spent the last year (since my husband died) removing "clutter" from my house and yard. It's made me wonder why we surround ourselves over the years with so much that we don't need. Part of the reason is laziness in disposing of something once it has no discernible use and part of it is that we think we just might need it again sometime in the future. Another reason is that we can't convince ourselves that this item we absolutely had to have 10 years ago could really have become unnecessary in our lives.

We're a nation of waste and most of us have too much disposable income or credit availability. We're like children who believe all the advertisements telling us we can't live without every new doodad. Then comes the day when we look around us and realize we're being buried in a mountain of clutter. I love to question my reasoning for doing what I do...such as accumulating all this stuff in the first place. The closest I've been able to come to understanding it is that I was feathering my nest. I feathered it a little too long and almost ran out of space for me to be in it.

Last winter I ruthlessly went through my Florida trailer and cleared out 5 years of clutter. It made the trailer look larger and cleaner. I think I've developed the right attitude for getting rid of things...if it doesn't have a purpose, let it go. My next move will be into a smaller house so I keep that in mind when I try to decide whether to keep or discard. My family and friends who help me move will thank me for my choices.