Too many people spend money they haven’t earned to buy things they don’t want to impress people they don’t like….Will Rogers

What is it about stuff that makes it so addictive?  Is that the right word?  Should it be comforting?  Should it be impressive?  Whatever the description the rampant accumulation is frightening to me.  I had the advantage of living in a small space my whole life and stuff wasn’t always an option.  God bless himself, he loved stuff but had the good sense to live in anticipation of the big green garbage bag coming around every six months so it didn’t get too out of hand.  That’s been my answer to too much stuff for many years now, the big green garbage bag, I’m talking construction grade, no fooling around.  Other people find a periodic tag sale a good way to make purging fun, gotta love the art of the deal.

I also had the advantage of a mentor who’s decorating philosophy was to surround yourself with only those things you loved so everywhere you looked, wherever your eyes set, they set on something with meaning.  This can present as a problem only if you’ve got to decide what to take with you if the house is on fire….no worries all I’m taking are Toto and Lina.

I’ve noticed that it’s at certain turning points (there’s those words again) that one begins to shed their stuff.  Big life changes like divorce, moving, or illness seem to bring a clarity that no longer includes stuff. Starting over in a life can give you pause; it also gives you the advantage of presenting your life the way you’ve always wanted. I’ve been following a blogger named Joshua Becker for some time and his becoming minimalist philosophy presents a rational approach to minimalism.  “It is written to inspire you to intentionally live with less. And find more life because of it.” I encourage you to follow him, and his family, on their journey.  They are not lacking for anything but the need for a big green garbage bag…

That said, as I look around my home I am indeed surrounded by only things I love.  Every single thing has and is a story running the gamut of joyous to profoundly ordinary accompanied by a laugh or a sigh.  Each thing has a legacy.  So it’s not just people it can be things too.  It’s a legacy thing…you see where this is going right?  As part of our continued story of ordinary legacies I’ll be incorporating an additional blog post each week on a “legacy thing”.  I hope you’ll look around your own home and find those things that summon up a story and let us know about them so we can share them here.

Nobody brings home the point quite like George Carlin, so enjoy one of his most famous rants about….stuff.

Stay tuned.