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Throw out anything we’re not using … said no farmer ever!
I like to ‘declutter’. As much for the process as for the end result. I see pictures every now and again in books or online of amazing rooms with nothing but clean lines of furniture and an occasional book strategically placed on a gleaming glass coffee table. Ahhhh … I think … I’ve got too much ‘stuff’ … I’d love to clean it all out like that. Move into one of those ‘tiny houses’ with everything to hand. How little could I manage?
But I live in a country home – still home to our adult kids out in the world making their way – home to our grandchildren passing through as they grow up coming to Gramma Camp for holidays – home to our first family of human kids – home to our current family of furred and feathered babies. And home to our future senior selves. We are all here. Dancing around each other in a happy go lucky time warp kind of way.
Our piano room contains most of the books we used while we learned to play plus many others we picked up along the way. We are awash in records and cassette tapes and VHS tapes and a buffet packed with photo albums and memory books. There are cleverly hidden boxes of redundant media cords, hard drives, sound mixers and cameras. As I begin to itch with spring cleaning fever I start to look around for a ‘clean up’ project. There is clearly one category of ‘stuff’ we find it hard to part with … media!
Years ago I would have said books, it would have been books that were lounging in our spaces. We’ve morphed into feeling that books should not be ‘shelved’. Such a waste … they need to go on to be read again. Now, there are some books that are more than books. Those all time favourites that I am sure I will read again … some day … likely some day far away… but some day. There are the kid’s books … that hold more than the story. Their pages hold children’s voices and gentle hugs and goodnight tuck ins. And the music books that hold two songs (out of twenty) that I like to pick up again. Mostly though we’ve become great library users. It is lovely holding a book that has been well traveled.
Since we’ve become ‘hobby farmers’ the declutter urge does not apply past our back door. Nope – not one inch. Our garage, our basement, our barns and sheds all adhere to those funny sayings that end … “said no farmer ever”. Like… toss away that wood we’re not using … “said no farmer ever.” Or, this fence piece is not worth fixing … “said no farmer ever.” Even that cracked bucket isn’t worth the duck tape to fix it … “said no farmer ever.” It all starts with needing to Macgyver something … Let’s look around the store to find something that will work said no farmer ever!
The Meadow View 
So true!
What a great post! After having dealt with the accumulated multi-generational legacy of one beloved farmer, as well as the contents of my late Mother’s home, I am determined NOT to leave a similar task to my children. But it’s so hard to let go. Having been raised in a large family by parents born during the depression….not to mention my LOVE of Macgvering…..sigh……..
On the bright side, I have a book which I allow myself to hold on to because I read it every few years – whenever I need a clutter check-up. It’s called “It’s All Too Much” by Peter Walsh.
I too dealt with the accumulated photo albums and videos of my parents and my godparents. I have to admit there are still two large boxes of theirs stored in our home. I think, in the end of it all, our photos are really only important to us. Some historians worry about the lack of ephemera for study in the future … perhaps though it will all be stored in a ‘cloud’ somewhere!