One reason for moving from my house to a studio apartment is to simplify life: live with less. But living on the light side is counter-cultural if not downright unpatriotic. After all, the “Consumer Confidence Index” — meaning our willingness to buy — is vital to the nation’s economic well-being. We Americans cooperate. We’re apparently more eager to buy than to vote.
The late comedian George Carlin, in a now-classic standup routine, summarized Americans’ obsession with acquisition in one word: “stuff.” The “whole meaning of life,” Carlin claims in oft-viewed videos, is “finding a place for your stuff.” That may be true until you reach a certain age. Then the meaning of life revolves around letting go of your stuff.
It’s painful, but it can be profitable. If you hold a yard or garage sale, you’re part of a grassroots market that puts an estimated $1.5 to $2 billion into American pockets annually. That’s a guesstimate by encyclopedia.com. The 6.5 to 9 million garage/yard sales held throughout the year are largely unofficial, unreported — and untaxed.
You can always let stuff go without letting go, but it’ll cost. Some ten percent of Americans pay an average upwards of $100 monthly to hang on to whatever. The booming storage rental industry makes $38 billion a year, including $65 million from auctioning off contents of units when renters forget to pay the rent, run out of money, no longer care, die, or whatever.
If you try to salve your letting-go wounds by recycling, sorry, but it may not be all that effective. A recent study, “America’s Broken Recycling System,” concludes that less than a third of the items left at recycling centers actually do get recycled or composted. Nonetheless, the recycling and/or landfill industry ballooned from $82 billion in 2021 to $91 billion last year. (Those figures are national and do not reflect the efficiency of local recycling efforts.)
I opted for a three-day moving sale, held on a sunny weekend, made entirely possible by volunteer workers from the Okanogan Valley Orchestra and Chorus, which got half the proceeds. Thanks to them, it was a heap of fun. In a rural community where everybody knows everybody, shoppers learned even more about me — A to Z — from my taste in Art to Zippered storage bags. I celebrated with grinning shoppers who strolled out with a new-to-them treasure that I had long treasured. “What a steal,” they were thinking. “For both of us,” I was thinking.
Alternative D — donating — satisfies the soul, especially if it’s really good stuff. I dreaded the thought of selling my car online, so I donated it to public radio. They’ll pick up your car at your door and give you a tax write-off.
I like to believe that I have winnowed my possessions so I no longer have mere “stuff,” but a higher class of items: “things.” It required only a pickup truck pulling a twelve-foot trailer to haul my “things” to my new apartment in Seattle. Carefully labeled boxes are stacked in a corner, leaving just enough space for bed and chairs. Uh, but I sold those.
Right. Gotta go shopping.
Every New Season 
I’ve been trying to declutter 40 years of things over the last few months. It’s such a tedious job and I’ve had trouble motivating myself. But when another carload goes to the recycling, thrift or tip shop, I feel so much better. I will be 70 next week and my health has seen far better times – I only wish I’d started all this a decade ago. The worst is sorting through all the photos, letters and cards – so much emotion is involved. I’ve also been feeling guilty about having been caught up in the whole consumption thing and am now reflecting on the energy and environmental costs, and the ‘ecological footprint’ of most of us who live in the developed countries. So much stuff that is manufactured ends up in landfill or contaminating waterways. It’s disgraceful really. I’ve vowed that for the remainder of my life, I will buy only what’s truly necessary.
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I agree that decluttering is at once painful and liberating. I’m joining you in your determination to “buy only what’s truly necessary.” Thanks for reading and responding, Mary
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Looking forward to have you as my neighbor in Horizon House. I’m Danielle (Danie) from the Welcoming Committee and was fortunate to come across access to your blog page. Cheers to “letting go of stuff”..I am with you . One of the best joys of moving from our 3-story Capitol House where we raised 4-kids, entertained all their friends, enjoyed our dog, many cats, gerbils, guinea pig, fish..surely I forgot someone- was the pleasure of streamlining our possessions. We actually did quite well and you’d be happy to know that here at HH we have a famous Monday Market, which gets stocked by excess stuff from residents and the proceeds of which finances the many, many activities that go on here. So if you forgot an indispensable ladle, you’re bound to find a replacement at the market. Monday Market is a treasure.
Do you know your move-in date yet? Shortly upon arrival you will be greeted by your Mentor, a resident assigned to help you move more smoothly through the transition of country livin’ to downtown Seattle and to help you to learn to navigate the 11 elevators here at HH. Of course there is a lot more.
So here’s an early greeting to you. Looking forward to your arrival.
Danie Carr
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Thanks for your warm welcome, Danie. I’ll move in this Tuesday, Nov. 7, and look forward to meeting you.
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You Hi Mary, So your move is complete (except for that unpacking). Congratulations! You are an inspiration. Will be hoping for photos of your new digs once you’ve unpacked.
We continue on an alternate path: one large, stuffed storage unit n Snoqualmie, a smaller one here in Sheridan (where we can’t find anything since we stored stuff in either black garbage bags, black duffels or giant Home Depot black totes!!) Also, we’re paying to store our truck and camper since the camper is such a tight squeeze onto the truck bed that we can’t unload it – and it’s the rare garage that has a 14’ clearance. We continue to migrate between the Comfort Inn in Sheridan (winter) and a green, clean well-run RV campground (summer). Lovely people at both – and yet … I actually went and looked at a house for sale last weekend. Not perfect but had many attractive features and would certainly work. Came back and told Gary about my visit. No interest. We seem unable to agree on what we want.
Ok, TMI. Will sign off now and hope for those photos ?? Kathy
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