Things You Own

I recently realized that I own too many things.

I have to store them, keep them clean, make sure they don't get stolen, and insure some of them.

I don't own them; they own me.

So I'm getting rid of some of them.

As I go through my things, I've found that they come in three different groups:

• Stuff -- Things that I love or use a lot.
• Possession -- things I like and use sometimes. they are nice to have around ifg you need them.
• Junk -- I don't like them at all or they aren't useful at all

(By the way, if you have a roommate, it's always your stuff but it's their junk.)

When you look at some things, I often wonder how it got into my place:

• Was it on sale and the price was cheap?
• Did an old girlfriend like it and give it to you?
• Was it a gift from someone with good intentions but clueless -- like your grandparents?

I have this advice; please don't trade your extra things. You're often trading your junk for someone else's junk.

Putting extra things in a storage facility for use later is not the answer. You don't get rid of them; you just put them aside for a while and you must deal with them sooner or later.

And if the storage facility goes out of business, where do they put those things that were stored there?

My mind reels in puzzlement.

When you go through your things, you might get lucky. You might find something valuable enough to sell for a good price or get a tax writeoff if you donate it to a museum or a charity.

But don't consider doing that for eight-track players, Members Only and Nehru jackiets, and old copies of National Geographic. You have to pay people to take them away.