I Love My Potato Peeler!

[talon]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/01/04/live.simply.move.overseas/index.html?hpt=C2

A lot of people are all about reducing clutter, which is a fine goal as long as it doesn't make one dull. I'm all about not having things I don't need, but some people just go too far, in my opinion. Like the author of this article - I mean, what do they do for hobbies and fun? Do they use their home like a hotel - a place to sleep, clean up, and store their clothes - and do all their living someplace else (work, friends, restaurants, malls...)?

1. It's just stuff. You think you'll miss your potato peeler, the silver tray you've had since college, the bedside lamp. But once it's gone, you really don't. Getting rid of something isn't just saying no, it's saying yes to what you're gaining -- more space, more visual clarity, and less to dust. When you start saying goodbye, the emotional attachment wanes.

I will indeed miss my potato peeler - it does far more than just peel potatoes. It's like a mini mandolin. I can peel potatoes, turnips, parsnips, carrots, radishes, beets, citrus fruits, kiwi fruits, pineapple, and more with it, use it to make ultra thin or thin veggie chips, slice cheeses, slice onions, bell peppers, and Roma tomatoes, julienne slice carrots, beets, parsnips, and potatoes, and use it to make certain fancy garnishes like cucumber and squash ribbons, radish and tomato roses, and such. I would so miss my potato peeler!

That silver tray I've had since college is an antique and I use it for tea parties - some of y'all may even have eaten cucumber sandwiches from it! No way am I getting rid of that - what would I use in its place? A foil wrapped sheet of cardboard?

And my bedside lamp is Very Useful. Often, it's the only light I use in the bedroom. I can turn it off and on from my bed and not have to get up and walk half across the room to flip the overhead light switch. I only use the overhead light when I'm cleaning and need more light than a bedside lamp provides.

If I had to pack up and move overseas, I might not move the bedside lamp with me, but I'd certainly buy a new one when I got there! The peeler and tray go with me, though. A good potato peeler is a treasure not to be left behind! And that tray is possibly replaceable, but why?

2. Having less stuff means you have more of value. When you have fewer items, you can live in a smaller space. This means less time to clean, lower utilities, and fewer "Where are my keys?" moments. You gain time and money.

I already "live in a smaller space" - my house is less than 900 square feet and I already enjoy lower utility bills (combined gas and electric is well below $100 a month). I don't see how reducing the "stuff" I have (except my kids' things - I'm a "storage unit" for them until the Big Garage Sale next spring and until they are all out of the military and can settle in one place for a while) will improve on that.

3. You can live on less. When you're intentional about what you bring into your home, there's less of a chance that your possessions own you. Our family doesn't have many overhead costs because we have just one car, one small TV, and just enough clothes so that each item is fully worn.

I have just one car, one TV/DVD player, and a small wardrobe (if we exclude the costumes...). What I have a lot of is art supplies, books, tools, power equipment, kitchen tools, appliances, and supplies, apothecary supplies, and a well-stocked pantry. The "consumables" get cycled through, the tools all get used frequently. I could maybe get rid of some of the dust collectors, but since I'm not moving and they make me happy, I won't. My possessions don't own me, I own them and they know it!

So, my house is cluttered and full, but it's a busy, well-used clutter. If it weren't for 2 things: books and company. I may reduce my general fiction collection, but not my cookbooks, how-to's, philosophy, religion, history, sciences, or books from authors I know in person. And I need room for guests and visitors. I moved my living room to the littlest bedroom, so the most it will hold now is 5 people, but when my workshop is finished out (especially if I open up the one wall so the workshop and kitchen become a single room), I should have space for 10-15 people to work on things, and once the library is finished off, I should be able to host parties of up to 30-40 people again, more, if we use the patio, too.

You can have lots of "stuff" if it's well organized, gets used, and gives pleasure and do it all in a small space and still be able to entertain. Clutter can be good.

I've never stuffed my refrigerator full of processed cheeses (eeww!), it does, however, contain a few things most people don't normally have - a collection of sourdough starters, for example. I know, most people would only have one starter and consider it "good", but each of my starters is special, one is thousands of years old, several others are hundreds of years old, and I won't be the one to kill them just to make space.

There are a few more big things I'd like to bring into my house: a small "party/guest" fridge for the living room, a wine fridge for meads, wines, medicinals, and the sourdough starters (a regular refrigerator is really too cold for them), and a dishwasher to save on water and have cleaner dishes. Those three will have to wait until I finish re-wiring the house and have heat, not because I lack space. And then, I need more shelves for books, tools, and storage, but those I can add when and where and as I need them.

I do agree, however, that impulse buys and thrift store/garage sale finds might not always be what you expect. I tend to buy tea cups, broken watches and mechanicals (for the parts), and art supplies like doll heads, and frames, and such.

A house that's too empty and clean isn't a home, to me. A house that is empty and clean says to me that these people don't live here, don't have fun here, don't socialize here, and this is little better than a hotel - a place to sleep and store those few possessions they can't cart around with them - one step above homelessness.

A house that has some clutter, shows signs of people working on things, doing things, having people dropping in, displaying things the residents made or love - that's a home.

So, I'm keeping my potato peeler, and my 2 bread machines, all three of my stills (and I may be adding one or 2 more...), my bottle capper and my bottler corker, and my GT Express, and my series of stock pots, and my 6 tool boxes of different tools, and my 5 large bins of patterns, and all three of my herb cabinets, and my tea cabinet, and both my ironing boards, and the boxes of nails, screws, watch parts, and rows of glues and paints, welding wires, and other drabs and scrabs of things, not to mention my collection of empty bottles and jars that get filled and re-used.

That doesn't even cover my outdoor clutter - patio furniture, grill, chiminea, gardening tools, gardens, and such.

My house may be cluttered, but that's because it's a well-used house!

Yeah, I'm not moving anytime soon.