ruled by stuff

As a packrat/hoarder, my mind was ruled by stuff because it was everywhere in my life.  Now that I am striving to become a minimalist, strangely my mind is still focused on stuff.  The difference is, instead of being overwhelmed daily by the “visual noise” of the piles of junk, my mind naturally drifts to thinking about what I actually need/want and what I can do without.  But I’m still thinking about possessions.

I wanted to be free of this, to no longer be trapped by physical items.  The hope was that getting rid of things would lead to the freedom to learn, travel, create art, meet people, and generally enjoy life.  Maybe that’s not true.

Data Clutter

Ten days ago I was sitting with a pad of paper, trying to organize my thoughts on how to approach the clutter caused by the damp things spread out to dry.  After I while I just wrote: “At the end of today I want the bedroom to be in a state where I can leave it as-is for one week.”

That was accomplished.  It was all consolidated in one area, half-packed boxes stacked up along one wall.  Shoes, books and things piled underneath card tables.  The chaos was still present, but contained.

It occurred to me today that I didn’t feel motivated to finish packing the dry stuff back into boxes and storing them.  It’s not as offensive now to see these things, compared to when they were damp and musty.  As if the stuff is blending into the landscape of clutter in the bedroom, so that I am not seeing it anymore.  Soon I’ll need to pack it up so I can reclaim some floorspace.

I want to upgrade my computer.  But it worries me.  Where will I put the old computer?  Where will I put all the stuff that comes with a new computer?  (disks, books, cables, boxes)  How will I consolidate all my data so it can be transferred and then backed up?

Data, like objects, have been collected by me and saved for a long time.  I still have text files that were downloaded to a Commodore 64 from a BBS using a 300 baud modem!  Also most things I’ve created on computers – including programs written in college that won’t run on any system I have now.  I did throw away the paper printouts of those old school projects, but I probably still have the data files.

I have all the pictures taken since I got a digital camera.  That collection is getting pretty big now.  Data takes up little physical space, but there are media like CDs, DVDs, Zip disks, flash drives, external hard drives.  That crap takes up real space.

Keys

Years ago I had a massive set of keys that I carried everywhere.  The size of my key set was an indicator of how complex my life was.  My belief was that my life would be streamlined by letting go of the need to hold so many keys.  It has been simplified a great deal since then.  Right now I have four keys on my key ring.

1. car
2. house
3. mailbox
4. storage unit

I used to drive a Plymouth that had separate keys for the locks and the ignition – so I carried two keys for one car.  My current vehicle uses one key for everything, which I prefer.  There’s a keyless entry gadget too, but I hardly ever take it along because of the bulk and the batteries don’t last.

The mailbox key I really don’t need to carry with me because it’s only used once a week.  But I do like to have all my keys in one place so they’re easier to keep track of.

The storage unit key will be gone after I stop renting the unit, hopefully this year.  Going from 4 to 3 keys will be a significant improvement!

No fob.  I stopped using a key fob to make the set lighter.  I just use a simple metal key ring.  Also stopped carrying junk like a little jacknife, flashlight, screwdriver, etc.  Just keys on the key ring.

Flooded Basement

A week ago the basement at the house flooded.  It was a rare warm day in in winter, snow and ice melting, plus it was raining.  Water level in the basement rose to about 8 inches and stayed there most of the day, slowly draining out overnight.  I’m told this is a rare event, the basement had been damp, but no flooding in the last 20 years.

I was storing about 30 cardboard boxes down there, many of which were sitting on the bare concrete floor.  They were stacked three boxes high.  A few of the lower ones changed shape when they got soaked, causing the upper ones to fall down and get wet.  I discovered it the next day, when the furnace wouldn’t turn on I went down to look.  The whole floor was a wet mess, with boxes and plastic cans knocked on their sides.

This past week I went to my job every day like normal, then rushed back to the house to work on saving as much as I could.  Things that got soaked were clothes, shoes, books, and paper files.  Bedroom is super cluttered right now, with piles of clothes on chairs, card tables, and hanging up on hooks, damp books arranged on any available flat surface to dry, and shoes all over the floor.  The musty smell is making it hard to sleep there.  Haven’t opened all the wet boxes yet, due to lack of workspace.  Trying to hurry and get things dried out before they can get moldy.  Planning on finishing it this weekend.

Sadly, most of these boxes are things I am storing for someone else.  If it were mine I’d rejoice and heave the wet junk into the dumpster and be done with it.  But since it’s not mine and I am responsible for it, I feel obligated to save as much as possible.

I was thinking the other day, as insane as it is to store things for friends, it actually does help me with decluttering my own stuff.  Being able to compare the physical volume of my stuff with the stuff belong to other people, gives me a perspective that changes the way I look at things I feel attached to.  Other people have an emotional or memory attachment to their own things which I don’t share.  Looking at junk I’m not attached to, and then looking at my own things, allows me to view my own junk as if it were someone else’s.

Four More Friend Boxes

A couple weekends ago I went to the storage unit.  Usually I avoid it in the winter because water flows to the walkways and turns to ice, which of course is tricky to walk on, especially if I am carrying something heavy.  This time half the parking area and all the walks were coated in thick ice.  The snow had been removed, but still very slippery.  I went there to bring back a small bookshelf.  I also grabbed four of the boxes which belonged to the friend that disappeared and may one day return.  At first glance they appeared to have kitchen stuff in them, which I thought would be easy to sort through and donate.

Today I cleared the bed to use as a workspace, set up a card table, and opened them up.  Right now I’m midway through the third one, just looking at what’s inside, but I had to stop.  My objective is to reduce volume of stuff by getting rid of the “junk” and keeping only what (in my judgment) he might think has true personal value.  About 80% of this is guesswork, and I may be guessing wrong.  But I have to do this because I want to stop renting the storage unit and I have no place to put all these boxes.

There were some drinking glasses, bowls, and trays (the kitchen stuff).  Mostly it was small miscellaneous items.  He’s a packrat too, and I’m at a loss over these things.  A couple obvious keepers, like a silver tray, antique opera glasses with an handwritten note from a relative, medals, family photos.  Some “merchandise” still in the package like small toys, games, fancy pens.  Souvenirs from vacation trips.  Old measuring tools. And so forth.

Now I’m at the point where I want to shove it all back in the boxes.  It’s too much to deal with, and the musty smell is starting to make me feel sick.  I have to get this off the bed where I sleep before the sheets absorb the odor.  Organizing my own stuff is hard enough, doing it for someone else seems impossible.  I wish he could advise me on what to keep, but… I know he would want to keep everything.