Big Garbage Day – Use it or Lose it

Pic from http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/04/10/25/

Today was Big Garbage Day in my city.  Twice a year, in the Early Spring and Late Summer this day comes around and it’s one of my favorite times of year (yeah, I know, I’m a nerd).  This year was a bit more of a challenge because we are not completely moved into this home yet, and we still have a number of items at the place we vacated in early April. 

As I write this, my back is absolutely killing me from hauling stuff out of the basement and the garage.  Lest the environmentalists amongst us think that my actions are quite wasteful, I can tell you that the stuff gets plucked off my curb nearly as fast as I can put it there.  There is a phenomenon with this process…what I no longer need, someone else inevitably wants.  Anything metal gets scavenged immediately.  I remember watching in horror last spring as some poor soul tried to drag our old cast iron bathtub across my driveway and into his station wagon.  The thing easily weighed three hundred pounds and if it weren’t for the awful sound, I might not have notice him scratching grooves into my driveway.

Needless to say, I ran out to help him as quickly as I could. 

Metal is good money, as evidenced by the trucks that stop by to pull it from my trash.  Two very old grills that were here when we moved in were snatched within fifteen minutes of me putting them at the curb.  It’s nice to see this.  I think I would feel God-awful if it all went to waste.  Much of what we had put to the curb this time was items that were left here when we moved in.  We used what we could, but the fact is that we already had plenty of accumulated items ourselves and were pretty much settled.

So, the semi-annual Use it or Lose it exercise is what we found ourselves doing this weekend.  With the hopes to make good on my goal to scale back, I approached this task with passion.

To do your own purge, it’s important to ask yourself a few questions when you look around your home. 

1.   Overall, when I look around my home, is what I see the same as my vision for my home?  If not, then you have to ask yourself, why not?  Do you have a messy spouse or messy kids?  Would they better understand if you talked about your vision?  If you have no family living with you at all, then you need only look in the mirror to see where the problem is. 

2.   If there is disparity between what you see and what you want, then you have to get down into the nitty gritty of everything in your home.  As you look at each object ask, “Is this thing (whatever it is) either extremely beautiful to me or extremely useful?”  If not, find a new home for it, quickly.  Recycle it, repurpose it, or if it’s beyond salvageable, curb it.  Books, music and clothing should almost always get donated. 

The important thing is that you should try to do this process a few times a year.  Stuff has a way of creeping back into your life if you let your guard down.  We think that without this thing or that thing, we can’t possibly live comfortably.  The truth is that most of the world lives without much at all, and seemingly gets by just fine.  Without getting too preachy, it’s our responsibility to try to live more lightly upon the Earth.  Next time you find yourself at the store ready to buy something, ask yourself if it really is something that you need.  Can you find another way to fill the proposed need that this thing occupies? 

Being conscious of your decisions is your best weapon of defense, and the most important tool in building the life that you want.