Thursday, August 21, 2008

How Much is Too Much?

As I was packing my bag to go to my mother's tomorrow night, I noticed that I have clothes neatly folded and stacked on top of a dresser because there isn't room for them in my closet or in the dresser. That means I have too many clothes. Ok, I accept that. I need to get rid of the things I don't wear.

Then I looked into my studio/craft room and noticed a similar situation (except not nearly so neat!). And for some reason it suddenly hit me. I have too much STUFF. It's all stuff I want, it's all stuff I like and it's all useful stuff. But a lot of it is stuff I don't use. Granted, the amount of time I've had available to use my stuff has been severely limited over the past few months. But that's not a valid reason. There's stuff in the studio/craft room that I have never used. I have a very creative friend who does a lot of creating with paper, something I also love to do. She bought a Cuttlebug and has really enjoyed using it. So nothing would do but I had to have a Cuttlebug. I've used it one time. I used a few old keys on some collages I did so when I saw a key ring of old skeleton keys at a junk store, I just had to buy them - all 20 of them. And I haven't used a skeleton key on anything since then. But I have 20 keys just in case. I went through a spell of making handmade journals with fabric covers. They were beautiful and I made a lot of them. And I really want to get back to making them. But I have TWO large containers that fit under my bed that are full of fat quarters of fabric and I haven't made a book in over a year. I could probably make 200 books without ever repeating a piece of fabric for the cover. I could probably make 400 books without running out of fabric. And now all of this stuff is beginning to paralyze me. I can't sit down at my craft table and start on something without having to clean it off first. And there is no where to put the things I move off the table. But when I try to decide what to get rid of, my brain shuts down.



And today a friend gave me a $10 gift card for Michaels.


Joy Journal: A friend who will give you gift cards for no reason!

3 comments:

Anetka said...

Ernie, you are just awsome!!!:)
:)
don't know what else to say:)

Anonymous said...

I totally get you - I had this epitomy several years ago. I did three things that have really helped.
1)Everytime I bought something new, I had to put a like item or something else in the bag for Salvation Army. 2)Also, every Tuesday, I go around my house and throw 27 things away, and add things to my Salvation Army bag. Then, every Wednesday I take them to give away. 3) I've tried to quit purchasing so much. I am gaining some control again. Let me know if you learn a better way!! I will add it to my list

Anonymous said...

I meant epiphany - silly me.