According to a statistic I heard on the radio this morning, these shells are just a few of the 300,000 items in my house. Yep, the average American has 300,000 things in their home. Not sure I'm going to count our possessions...quite possibly because I fear that I'd exceed 300,000 when I add what we have in our garage and outbuildings on our acreage.
Honestly, I am weary of so much stuff. The shells in the picture came home with Mike and I from Guam beaches back in 1992 when we moved back to the Cedar Valley after living on the island for two years. I almost never notice those shells, and if I were to die today, who would even want them?
Over the next two years, Mike and I are challenging ourselves to a significant downsizing effort. When we actually lived on Guam, we had very little stuff, and it was so wonderful. Our time was not spent managing property or stuff; it was instead spent enjoying meals and card games with friends, going on island adventures, and being attentive socially and relationally.
Twenty-three years, two homes, and two children later, we are steeped in stuff. I look forward to the freedom of not having 300,000 items in my home, but it's quite the difficult challenge to know what to get rid of and where to pass it off. Hoping that if I start now, I can succeed in freeing up some space and time for the future.
Check out the whole article that referenced the 300,000 items. It's a pretty stunning list of statistics:
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