‘Stuff’ just keeps growing and growing

Do you have enough room? I’m asking about storage room. We don’t! We have a two-story barn and a large house. The house cannot afford any more “things.” By that I mean anything in the way of appliances, furniture or just plain things. We are just at the point where there isn’t any place for any additional new items that have come on the market that EVERYONE seems to have.

Christmas is coming up and there is always the “item” for that year. If one of your relatives thinks you have to have it then where are we going to put it? That’s the problem.

As I went up the stairs in our barn to close the windows I took time to look around it. Surely we had room for something we could eliminate in the house that isn’t being used. THERE ISN’T. Why? Relatives have thought they could store things in our barn because we had room. Well, that is another one of our problems. Each time they have moved either from apartment or house the “leftovers” when they settle in their new residence came to us. We could have a lawn or garage sale or maybe even hire a place to put all of the items that belong to someone else in the family. I have tried to get the owners to come and take their belongings and all I get is “sure, one of these days.” Those days never seem to happen.

I tell the other members in the house, “we have got to invest in a ‘pod’ to store items of our own.” One of my relatives did exactly that as hous- ing necessities such as lawn mower, snowblower, bikes, etc. reached its storage limits. Eventually as other necessary items came into their possession, they decided they needed storage space. The day came they reached their limit and now they have a new storage building BUT as they said, everyone seems to have the same problem. We live in an age where we have too many items and stuff.

Boxes of now extinct records that you can have on CDs, badminton sets, golf clubs, a bedroom suite, a patio set with couch, chairs, etc., boxes and boxes of papers that can’t be thrown out but can be stored in someone’s barn, a croquet set, knickknacks, kitchen pots and pans and the list goes on.

One of my relatives moved to a southern state following retirement in a downsized apartment so the storage they have certainly won’t ever be moved to that state. Perhaps if we started charging rent that might be the answer to dispose of the unwanted items. That would be the answer but then we probably wouldn’t be very popular in the family.

I’m not alone in this predicament; I hear my friends and coworkers complaining about the same storage problems and what to do about it. Let’s face it, Americans have too many gadgets, out-dated items that you can’t let go because of nostalgia and sentimental feelings. For folks who read this column each week they well know that I’m my own worst enemy because I have been a “pack rat” since day one.