I’m in a mood lately. I want to go through our house and throw out or give away everything we don’t need or use. We’re not as cluttered as some, but our house is short on closet and storage space, and the back half of the basement tends to get jammed up with junk. We have old paint cans that don’t match any of our walls, and towels and blankets sitting around in big plastic bags. We have clothes that no one wears, and I’m embarrassed to say no one ever has, unless they did so with the tags still on. We have books, lots of books. I want to save some of the kids’ toys, but we still have some around that no child would ever want to play with. There are also materials left over from projects that it’s unlikely we’ll ever find a use for. So over the next several weeks, I hope to go through everything and ruthlessly let much of it go.

We’re not the only ones with too much stuff. Most people, when asked, would agree they have too much, too. It’s hard to miss the self-storage places cropping up everywhere. I heard a radio interview recently that talked about how ironic it is that at a time when houses are increasing in size and family size is decreasing, more and more people are turning to storage places to park their extra stuff. I went to the website for the Self Storage Association and was surprised by their statistics. They say that Self Storage is one of the fastest growing industries in the country, with square footage growing 741% from 1984 to 2005. There are 59,657 facilities with a total of 2.2 billion square feet. That’s 17.2 square feet for every U.S. household. We’re paying 22.6 billion dollars annually to store our stuff. I know there are lots of reasons to do so, but it must be in part that we just have too much of it.

In some way our energy is tied up with our possessions. When we release things, we experience an almost physical feeling of lightness. By letting go of things that no longer serve us, we free up energy and have it available for other uses. Just think of how much time we’d save if we didn’t have to search through clutter to find what we’re looking for, or money we’d save by not buying things we know we already have but can’t find. It could be that getting rid of things opens the way to new and better things, but it also frees up energy for creative endeavors, for time with loved ones, or maybe just more ease in living.

I know that shopping is a national pastime, and I confess it’s one that I enjoy. But when our house is all clean and free of clutter, I hope to be more conscious about what I bring back into it. I learned a long time ago that really liking an item doesn’t mean having to own it, and I enjoy looking around in stores even when I don’t buy. But there are times I buy things and wonder later why it seemed important to do so, and I find that sometimes I deny myself things I deem too expensive and then mindlessly spend even more on other things I don’t like as well and need even less.

Wish me luck in this endeavor to de-clutter. You may see our stuff in the alley on garbage day, or on the porch when the charity truck is scheduled. You won’t know it, but you might even see some of it at the next church rummage sale you attend.