Are we shopping yet?

Too. Much. Stuff.

If they were honest, all of my friends would admit that, like me, they spend a good amount of time moving stuff around—putting it away, giving it away, and reorganizing it.

In my mailbox today was a long line of CyberMonday emails urging me to buy more. On Facebook, another long line of posts also says go ahead and buy more stuff but buy it locally. A competing thread says don’t buy anything.

The fact is that, like most lucky people who are able to, I enjoy buying stuff and find it pretty easy to convince myself I can use it, if I don’t necessarily need it. But it’s getting less enjoyable to manage the collection I have.

For example, I’d love to recommend some new gardening books as gifts, and I probably will. But the reality is I have run out of shelf space for my own, and stopped having time to read most of them a couple months ago. I rarely pick up a technical gardening book unless it’s a plant encyclopedia—and most of that can be found reliably online now. Personal gardening titles—essays, memoirs, and letters—are still enjoyable, but they’re piling up too.

As for tools, I would love to get rid of half of what I have. I only actually use one pair of pruners, one spade and a big shovel—and the Cobrahead to get through the tree roots. There’s way more than that clattering around the garage. (Most of it would be useless to anyone—like those silly little weed forks.)

Too much of the mass-produced stuff offered to gardeners as holiday fare has the same sort of planned obsolescence as the contents of my garage. I look forward to reviewing all the crafty offerings Amy elicited in her recent post—but I’m not sure where I’ll put any of it. This is why I've begun to give more forced bulbs as gifts—they fade away on their own. (Though many of my recipients try to keep them as potted plants despite my advice.)

How about you—how do you deal with your stuff stream?

Comments

[gardengeri]

I had the amazing good fortune to enter "This is How I Roll with Corona Tools" contest and although my little video was not v professional, it was v sincere and showed me hard a work clearing our tangled woods with a big pair of Corona lopers. So it won (!) and today I get to tell Chris what garden plans I have for the next couple of years in our brand new home/ landscape/ garden that needs everything, and then Corona will figure out what tools I need and send me a complete line of tools.
This is darn lucky b/c all my old tools are wearing out and getting past their 25 year guarantees. Plus, our son is buying his first house and yard and he will be happy to have my old tools!

[Vicki Winters]

Please let us know when you have a yard sale! I still haven't reached saturation point with garden books or tools.

[A. Marina Fournier]

When we last moved in 2004, there were quite a number of large things, and a few smaller, that I decide we didn't need anymore. They movers were happy to have those items in good condition--and it didn't matter to me if they kept them, sold them, or donated them, because they were out of my hair. We did move a few too-useful-to-shed items, which partially furnished a friend's apartment, including a bunkbed.

I am continually frustrated in this house because there are not enough bookshelves. My husband was on my case to sell the last house before election day, and I was seduced by hardwood floors, a hot tub, and a pool.

We have one honking big piece of cabinetry that doesn't fit anywhere else in the house but where I wanted a lot of bookshelves. I am not parting with my books--too much money, too much time accumulating some of them, and they could fetch reasonably large prices, some of them.

[roc_phd]

I think a good way to give away stuff is Goodwill, Freecycle, or posting on Facebook ("anyone want my ____?")If I had a blog, though, I might do a giveaway, especially if I had too many gardening books (hint hint). :)

[DeborahB]

I have definite hoarding tendencies, but come by it honestly as my dad is really out of control. Books are my biggest love also. I rarely buy fiction anymore - my husband and I use the library here constantly - but I am always buying more gardening books. In regard to other stuff, I have an easier time getting rid of things if I know (or imagine) who it's going to. I could easily give away our excess dining chairs when a friend needed them. I'm thinning out my Christmas stuff by thinking about the Family Services clients that need it. I've really been working on clearing things out this month. At the rate I'm going, in 3 or 4 months I should have a much less cluttered house... just in time for the start of yard sale season (my downfall)!

[tropaeolum]

A lot of community gardens or school gardens would LOVE your neglected tools! Some non-profits even have tool "lending libraries" to help those who can't afford tools or who live in apartments with no place to keep them. They would dearly love a donation of tools.

I have a problem getting rid of plants. I'm a plant hoarder. I have a ton of non-hardy plants like old forcing tazettas that I baby and bring inside each year and move with me from state to state. I keep waiting to find a friend in the deep South who I can give them to.

Don't get me started on the dahlia collection. I've still got 50+ to dig and there is 2 inches of snow on the ground.

But stuff, books, nicknacks, appliances--dear god no. I hate presents of stuff!

[Raffi / Gardenology.org]

Ah, sounds like we're all on the same page here. Getting junk and clutter out of our lives, and trying to keep it out. It's hard, since for me (as well as some others out there it sounds like) much of the junk we accumulate seems to be unwanted gifts, or perhaps items we just maybe, might, perhaps one day need, and don't want to buy. We've agreed in our family that there is no buying adults presents - just younger kids in the family. It's worked for years and we've all be really relieved.

For garden tools, I agree, I only have and use a very small number of tools. There are other tools I'd love to have just for once or twice a year (mulcher/chippers, chainsaw, etc). Don't need it enough to justify buying, costs too much to rent for a day to justify renting.

I hear there are some community tool sharing groups now, but do they work? Do people take care of tools that they don't own?