Stuff….

I looked around our ‘ big house’ at all our stuff and thought we really don’t have a lot of stuff. I do pretty good at regularly purging, at limiting what our kids have, at gifting them memories ( experiences) over materials.

We go over wardrobes twice a year and get rid of the doesn’t fit or outlived clothing and only replace to the number 9 ( 9 pants, 9 shirts ect…) We repurpose and ” hand down” as much as we can ( which is getting harder as number 1 and number 3 are almost the same size now)

Then I packed our big house took a trailer load to the thrift store sold our dinner table, kitchen hutch, traded the dryer in for a collapsible drying rack, traded kids dressers for captains bed. Looked at our room full of boxes and exclaimed we really don’t have that much stuff!

We are here now in our ‘small’ house, with our stuff and slowly things are unpacking one room at a time we are settling in.

And although I still stick to the claim we don’t have a lot of stuff, we still have things we could live without ( 6 days with no water teaches you a lot about necessity and it’s importance), 13 days of 3/4 of your life’s stuff still in boxes is a great way to see what you thought you wanted but never really use, and the things you use but can still function well with out.

Plus we have outside, outside is riddled with snowshoe tracks and doggies prints, with kids snow forts, hiding spots, climbing trees and no stuff!

The longer I ponder our pile of stuff, the rooms still filled with boxes I am perplexed about what should really stay and what should go. I have boxes upon boxes of kitchen supplies let’s face it I had this beautiful kitchen

Which grudingly I traded for this

Yes that is really it, but it’s all about the experience so 3 sleepless nights stressing how I was ever going to provide my family of 5 with good food ( hopefully soon, our own raised good food) in this kitchen I succumbed, we moved, and I did it. Aside from the fact there isn’t enough space for the kids to pitch in as much as I would like we are doing it and fairly well. So as I wander into the basement full of kitchen stuff and dream of the kitchen I hope to have I ponder do I really need all this stuff?

Then I head outside to work on the pig pen for thier upcoming arrival and get away from all the stuff.