Stuff

I love this time of year.  I'm always so glad to get back into the routine of school with the boys and while Christmas is always enjoyable, it seems like life slows down to a much nicer pace when it's all over.

All the Christmas decorations have been put away and now is the time of year that I begin the big purge.  I've been going through closets and putting stuff aside for Goodwill.  I'm always amazed and somewhat horrified by how much we accumulate around here.  The good thing with a small house is that one notices right away when stuff starts to become a bit much.  I'm not a clean freak but I do like an organized house and I don't like a lot of stuff around me.  It makes it hard for me to breathe.  I would like to be remembered for being frugal (not cheap though) and thrifty.

My Oma was frugal and she was ahead of her time.  She was a recycler, re-use and reducer before there was even the catch phrase.  She and my Opa immigrated to Canada after WWI with literally nothing but their clothes.  They took a homestead in Manitoba and worked hard every single day of their lives.  I grew up watching Oma wash out the bags the milk came in, cut the tops off and use them to freeze fruit and vegetables.  She reused aluminum foil and cartons from cream. She turned flour sacks into pillowcases with beautiful crocheted lace edging.  She baked her own bread once a week, grew all their veggies and most of the fruit they ate.  I don't think she ever would have bought a jar of jam and I have very fond memories of watching her "setting up" for winter.  She was always pickling, canning or blanching something.  I love that and I know she did it with love and concern for her family.  I always think of her cringing up in heaven, actually she'd be shaking her head and clicking her tongue in dismay, at the amount of wanton waste that goes on around here.

2012 will be a year of less "stuff" around here.  As a family, we're going to consume less, waste less, and spend more time doing things ourselves, like eating at home, canning and preserving, etc.  We will not be bringing anything into the house without something going out.  I will be on a yarn diet (not fast) and I will not be adding to the stash unless I have a specific project in mind and am ready to cast it on.  We will be joining the community garden and putting in a veggie garden and shopping the farmer's market for produce to preserve.  All in all I hope it will be a simpler, less stressful life.  It takes a lot of energy to manage a lot of stuff!

I think George Carlin's take on "Stuff" sums it up best.