Clearing out the crap

We spent some time today clearing out the basement. We decided the easiest (laziest?) option was to move our living room furniture aside and temporarily store the contents of our basement there. We have too much junk! Why do we hold onto stuff we clearly don't need, and we haven't looked at since we moved in? Here are the reasons, as I see it:

We think it is worth something.  I blame ebay and craigslist for half of the crap that we have.  Ebay makes it seem so easy to match our, say, extra camera bags and collection of tennis rackets, with some buyer in some city on the other side of the continent who is willing to pay top dollar (or at least a few dollars) for them.  Brilliant! ...but for busy new parents, its tough to find the time to take photos, write up a description, package and mail things piece by piece. Yet because of the promise of ebay, we are reluctant to drop anything off at the nearest donation center. Craigslist seems effortless - someone actually pays you to drive to your house and haul away, say, two of your three commodore monitors - but the haggling can be a real downer. (How dare they offer $30 for both, I am sure I can get $20/each!!!!). 

We feel guilty about getting rid of things people have given to us. Get over it. Someone else will give it a nice home. It is only stuff!  Yes I am talking about you, you stuffed snowmen with little green jackets and plaid scarves glued onto a piece of wood. I hope you will be happy in your new home.

It has sentimental value. I have no idea how I can get my grandmother's doilies to work with my decor but I will hold onto them and eventually find a way to style them up.

The seasonal stuff. I was brain-washed by the mall and wanted Christmas everything in my twenties.  I am now downsizing my collection of all things red & green to put the focus on ornaments we picked up while traveling. I also want to decorate using fresh tree branches, pine cones, and holly (aka things that DIE in early January) with some homemade touches!    

Objects you used before, and may use again. I am really reluctant to give away my little mermaid, or teddy bear, or ghost (boo!), or winnie the pooh cake tins.  They could still come in handy. 


For the record, only about 25% of 'our' stuff is really 'mine'.  The rest is his.  It would be real easy for me to carry all of his stuff out to the curb and let people take it away. (He wouldn't even realize it was gone!)