Bringing Stuff Home (or Why I Don't)

Okay, so it's not like I never buy anything, I just bought a digital camera a few weeks ago (I have three film cameras already). However, I am thinking a lot harder about what I bring home now than I used to, and there are times when I have a difficult time even being in a store because I get a little anxious about all of the potential clutter surrounding me.

I've been thinking about it slightly more since last night when I realized that I will need to buy yarn for chemo caps. Even though I know I'll be buying yarn for a specific project to be started pretty much immediately after buying it, I'm still not entirely comfortable with the thought of bringing more stuff into my environment.

I took four bags of books and a bag of cassette tapes to the library last weekend. I have two bags of miscellaneous stuff in my trunk to go to Goodwill, and I nearly unconsciously, nearly constantly scan my house for things I can get rid of.

I'm pretty sure this anti-acquisitiveness is a product of helping my parents move out of their home of twenty years back in September, combined with the two months I spent living out of a duffle bag at Kripalu, with a sprinkling of left-leaning anti-corporate, anti-consumer-culture philosophy of life.

I'd like to get down to the theoretical "things that are beautiful and useful" ideal in terms of personal possessions, but that could take a while, and in the meantime I will continue to wrestle with every non-consumable purchase I make, and figure out whether I need to keep everything I own.

Via Neena, here is a light-hearted look at our collective struggle with "It" in all its tempting forms.