JUNK

My mother was an unorganized hoarder. My mother-in-law was an organized hoarder. I am a hoarder. My husband is a hoarder in denial. I am an impulse shopper. I collect clutter like rotting fruit collects flies.

We live in a large old farm house. We have barns and sheds filled with stuff. When we got married 50 years ago, Ken's parents built a new house on the farm and moved out with some of the essentials, but left everything else behind. There were rooms filled with antique furniture, broken chairs, has-been wood stoves, boxes of stuff, and a woodshed filled with far more than wood.

As a new 19-year-old bride, I had no idea what to do. Ken’s perspective was that we did not need to buy any furniture. There was lots as well as old appliances. The best one was a big chest freezer full of food. The worst was an old wringer washing machine and rinse tub that had to be dragged  in from the back kitchen and filled with a bucket and dragged outside to empty. Our mattress had springs sticking out of it. I did not stand a chance.

I chose to be a stay at home wife and mother. I’ve always thought we made do without a lot, but that was money. We certainly had a lot of stuff. Where my mother cleaned house when company was coming, my mother-in-law  systematically kept her house clean by doing dishes after every meal and sweeping the floor every day right after breakfast. It was easier when she moved out of the old farm house. After all, as a young bride of 19, she too moved into this old farm house with its rooms filled with the same old beds and dressers and broken chairs. She bought all new appliances for her new house leaving the old behind.

Ten years after we were married, we began some house renovations by dry walling and insulating one room at a time. I bought new mattresses for all the beds and a new bed for us. Books have always been a weakness for me. I had boxes and boxes of books without bookshelves to hold them. Later, I went back to school and bought hundreds more books. By now, I had several large bookcases to hold them. Psychology books. Theology books. History books.

Then I took up quilting seriously, so I have a whole library of quilting books and patterns. Let’s not talk about quilt fabric. Okay. Let’s talk about quilt fabric. As I write this I am in the midst of decluttering my fabric hoard. I counted at least 50 medium project boxes and 30 large totes filled with projects and patterns, as well as batting, wide backings, sewing machines, notions, tables, lamps. Many bags of fabric. I had a plan for every piece of fabric I bought. I presently have 47 unfinished quilts. I am getting help to bag up much of this to donate to a couple of quilt guilds to use for charity quilts. I am even donating many ufos (unfinished fabric objects). I cannot take it with me when I die and my children do not want it.

But the problem comes down to – what is my attitude about all this stuff? What void am I trying to fill? I have made many quilts as gifts. But now I am making reproduction quilts for me.

Often when cleaning up, I don’t know what to do with the stuff, so it has gone into a box and put in another room to deal with later. Eventually, I had several rooms filled with boxes of stuff and hampers filled with laundry.

When our son moved back home with his 3 children, we made a huge purge of furniture and stuff. A lot of stuff. But he brought most of the stuff from his house to fill the gaps. Living room furniture, whole bedrooms, and toys and clothes. A lot went onto storage in the garage and lots here. So I purge again.

Then, during covid, our daughter and her family moved in for 4 months. So more purging. It is a good thing we have 6 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. And a big heated trailer outside. And 2 very large chest freezers and 2 refrigerators. Then we had to buy a new washing machine. And we put a toilet into a hall closet. But then had to deal with all the stuff that was removed. 

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moths and vermin destroy, where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matt 19-21 NIV)