Stuff.

 

Many years ago, a 70-year old woman told me, “The first 40 years of your life, you spend collecting things. The next 40 are spent trying to figure out how to get rid of them.”

Well, it’s true – my husband and I have stuff...Lots of STUFF! (Remember, we once lived in 4 different homes at one time and had STUFF in all of them!)

My husband will say I have the most stuff and that’s probably true. Let’s see, I have collections of exotic fans, Limoges pill boxes, Lladro’s, Perfume bottles, decorative Faberge-type eggs, tea sets and champagne glasses. Let’s not forget the fur, jewelry, handbag and of course, SHOE collections! (My husband had my closet designed to hold 107 pairs of shoes. He was wrong – it currently holds 385 pair!)

Oh and the clothes--that’s a whole other topic. I’ve got fat clothes, skinny clothes, winter clothes, summer clothes, evening gowns and I even have a personalized bowling shirt. (Don’t ask!)

Why do I have so much stuff? Well, there are many reasons…

Some stuff was purchased during one of my many UndercoverWear travels, but many of my “collectables” were gifts. Now the clothes, shoes, handbags, etc. – those were “must haves.”

As far as my jewelry, I have an acquaintance in Hawaii to thank for that. Way back, I didn’t even buy jewelry. But, one day, she announced that I had “woozy jewelry.” At the time, I was much more insecure. To her, “success” meant having gorgeous jewelry, so I had to prove that I too was successful and I started to buy jewelry.

Rather dumb, don’t you think? I must admit, my husband has always been incredibly generous and buys me beautiful jewelry. My favorite piece is a necklace he had designed for me in San Paolo Brazil. In fact, I had my gown for my son’s wedding designed around this piece.

Anyway, my dilemma remains – how to get rid of all this stuff. Two problems – if the item was a gift, I don’t want to part with it for sentiment’s sake. If I purchased it, most likely I liked it then and still like it! I’m sure, “where there’s a will, there’s a way.” I’m on a mission – one by one, I’m going to start purging.

Let’s start with the easy stuff – like handkerchiefs. I have about 30 handkerchiefs. Most of them were my mother-in-law’s, featuring delicate hand crocheting – either stitched by her or her mother. (Oh boy, I’m screwed already.)  How can I get rid of anything hand made and belonged to my husband’s mother?

Okay, maybe I’ll give up skinny clothes. But, doing that will be admitting defeat – it’s like saying I’ll never be skinny again. Skinny clothes have to stay. 

I know, I’ll start with my tea sets – I don’t even like tea! This should be easy. Sitting right here on my desk is the pretty Limoges set with flowers and birds on it. It’s so delicate. No, I can’t bear to give it away or worse, sell it. I’ll move on. 

Instead, I will start with the knick-knacks in my office. The matching glass swans can’t be worth much. Wait! To me they are priceless. My son gave them to us as an anniversary gift when he was 9 years old. He picked them out and paid for them with his own money– I’ll never get rid of those glass swans.

That little bird is surely something I can toss. No, my beloved assistant Liz Casey (who died of cancer at 35) gave me that bird. It sits next to a photo of her with my son, both of them with big smiles, looking quite silly. I am absolutely keeping that.

That’s it. I can get rid of the glass slipper from Aruba filled with dice and coins – it’s just a tourist’s souvenir and I don’t need that.  Oh but was given to me to remember all the fun times my parents had with us in Aruba. My mother loved the slots, loved Aruba and loved having fun. Can’t get rid of that.

I wish I could find that old woman again; maybe she could give me some advice. It looks like my purging mission has suffered a failure to launch. If worse comes to worse, 30 plus years from now, when I am laid to rest, my son will be able to plan the biggest yard sale of all time! Until then, I think I’ll sit back and simply keep enjoying all my STUFF!