Why is it so hard to dig out of the pack rat den?

"You're a pack rat," one of my sons told me recently, and I looked at him in disbelief. When we relocated, a few years ago, from a huge house in the country, in Kentucky, to an apartment, in Baltimore, I'm the one who - after the initial yard sale - used Craigslist and Freecycle to whittle our stuff down, again and again. I'm the one who has sold and given away dozens (perhaps hundreds?) of books.

But I looked around our apartment, and I thought about what he said, and I realized he's right. My husband and I are both pack rats, just in different areas of life and perhaps for both some different reasons, as well as some intersecting reasons.

I'm slowly working toward minimalism - toward reducing "stuff" - without giving up the second two parts of "reduce, reuse, recycle". But in the meantime, I've been exploring 'how we got this way'. So, this morning I made a list (of course). It's a list of what we learned, mostly from our parents, who - just for the record - grew up during the Depression. Not all of these items apply to us...although many of them apply to one or the other of us...but I've gotten them all from observing ourselves, our parents, and our siblings.

Please do not take these and run with them, so to speak. Many of them are better "re-thought" entirely, and others at least modified. Most of them bog us down in life. But until we see where we're coming from, I figure it might be harder to figure out where we're going.

Old Philosophies about “Stuff”:

1.       If you spent good money for it, or it was a gift, so someone else spent good money for it, you should keep it.

2.       If it is broken, you should keep it until you can find a way to fix it.

3.       If it is worn out, you should give it to Goodwill.

4.       But if you can remake it, or you might be able to re-use it in another way some day, you should keep it for when you have time to do that.

5.       You should keep old things, like holey socks, because you might need them in an emergency or in an economic downturn.

6.       You should save your college textbooks, other books, your childhood toys & games, and clothing that no longer fits you, for your children and your grandchildren to use some day.

7.       If you have items that are no longer in general use, for example, vinyl records, you should keep them until you can have them converted or until you can buy the equipment to convert them yourself, or better yet, buy the re-manufactured retro equipment to play them on.

8.       If an item – large or small – has sentimental value, you should keep it.

9.       If you have items or equipment from a former hobby, or from a former lifestyle (for example, you now live in an apartment but have yard tools from a house with a yard), you should keep them, in case you, once again, pursue that hobby or, once again, live in a house with a yard.

10.   If you have family or friends visiting you, and they need something, you should have it at hand for them, be it a notebook, jacket, or an extra car to drive. 

I kid you not (as we used to say). My Dad always had two cars, even though he was single in later years. And when we were at my Dad's house after his stroke, my brother-in-law and I were able to find everything we needed - some parts in the garage, some parts in the basement - to put together a coffee maker, even though my Dad had made nothing but instant coffee for decades. At that point he didn't understand that we were at his house making coffee, but I'm sure he would have been pleased.

I'm open to your comments and ideas...but please remember that, although I don't recommend wasting resources, neither do I recommend the above philosophies, at least not without some modifications.

And now, back to my de-cluttering. 

P.S. (August 2015). I wrote the above about a year and a half ago. I have now written about each of the above points, and each of them is a link to those blog posts.

Cooking in a Power Outage

Lately, I had been thinking a lot about how to cook in a power outage. The last time we had a power outage, we went out to eat. I enjoy going out to eat now and then, but I want to do it on our own terms, when it's a good time to spend that extra money, as well as when we're not in the middle of a snow storm, ice storm, hurricane...you get the idea.

We have a gas stove, but it has an electric starter. So, I kept thinking, could we bypass that electric starter?

With a snow storm coming, and being near a Dollar General, I went in and looked for one of those long lighter things...utility lighter, they call it.

I remember the days when gas stoves didn't have pilot lights, much less electric starters. We would have to turn the flame all the way up, and hold this little match up to it. And I was afraid that either my hand would burn or I would blow us up with too much gas. I never did either one, but I never got over that fear. So, I was delighted when one of my sons held the long utility lighter up to the stove, turned the gas on ever so slightly, and there was a nice, slow flame. It seemed so safe. 

I was even more delighted that now, if we have a power outage again, we will be able to cook. 

It's lucky for us, too, because we are not allowed to use a barbecue grill on an apartment balcony, and I'm thinking that applies to portable gas stoves, as well. But if you have an electric stove in your home which won't help you in a power outage, and you have a yard...you probably could use a portable gas stove (or the barbecue grill) on your patio or in your yard.

But what do you think of this clever little camp stove that I found online last night? It has a battery-operated fan to fan the flames into being. And while your food cooks, it can charge your phone! 

We had fun, when I was a girl, making those little Girl Scout stoves out of a coffee can, tuna can, paraffin, and cardboard. But it was a lot of work to make, and I don't know how many meals you could cook on one of those little burners. 

What do you do about cooking in a power outage? 

Mama's Bank Account - A Book Review

Mama’s Bank Account, by Kathryn Forbes, 1943 - A Book Review

Pleasant surprises abound for the reader, beginning with the first chapter. At first glance, you might think this book is primarily about how the author’s mother managed the family’s finances. But Mama’s practical psychology and everyday wisdom are perhaps even more important than her thrift and planning. 

Even though the book is about an era nearly a hundred years ago, the way Mama dealt with life offers us invaluable lessons that we can use in our twenty-first century lives, yes, both in terms of general living and economizing. 

Laugh, cry, and nod in approval and amazement as you enjoy this tale.