The Value of Stuff

We are in the midst of giving stuff away. The system we decided to follow dedicates at least two things a day to be given away. The way that it has worked out I (Joshua) have been doing much of the thinking and giving away. Some of the items have been my own things like clothes and books, but some have been collective items that I add and then ask Alyssa if she is comfortable giving that item away. 

Yesterday, we got rid of a ton of clothes and several other items. It was more than two items even if you count clothes as one, but we were just in a mood to clean some things out. Alyssa did not have to work until noon and I was off because of Presidents' Day and Westmont's four-day recess. We had a lot of time to just think about what we didn't need or use.

As I was walking around our apartment finding little things here and there, I realized that having a lot of stuff actually deteriorates from its value. Economics echo this, as long as there is some demand, when there are lots of something the value of that item goes down and when there are few the price goes up. That is why when I can go buy a used CD Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool for $1.50, but if I want the Limited Edition, Vinyl Import, Birth of the Cool will cost me a cool $88, used. In our life, all of the things we have clutter space and hearts. We loose the value of the important things. I don't think it is impossible to value items even when we have a lot, but it gets difficult to remember what is important when you have everything to choose from.

Things also become valuable because they play a particular role in our lives. The game of checkers has immense value in my life because my grandaddy and I used to sit on the porch for hours upon hours and play together (it may have only been minutes, but it felt like hours to a little boy). Checkers is still important, but I don't play the game much, we have other games to choose from so we play those. I have wanted to have a good checker board (my grandaddy's was lost somewhere), but I have not taken the effort to do so, because of all the other things, all the other games we have. However, an honest examination reveals that we really only have those games, we don't regularly play them, they aren't important. They are fun don't get me wrong, but they have little meaning and little value.

It seems to me that the less we have the more we value what we have.

So we have been negligent towards our blog. Life has been incredibly busy and writing has gone down a couple of rungs, but we haven't neglected the journey.

This month has been focused on possessions. When Jen Hatmaker – who we were inspired by – did this exercise she and her family gave away 7 things a day. We considered such a move, but realized that with two people earlier on in our marriage (and thus less accumulation of random stuff) that 7 things might be a little presumptuous. Instead we each decided that we would give away one thing every day of the week (ideally then 7 things each a week, but leap year will throw us off, perhaps we will do 7 things on that last day). There aren't rules about giving away to anyone specifically so sometimes out gifts are towards individuals and sometimes to organizations.

So far it has not been too difficult to actually give things away, but it has taken more time than expected to think of what do give away. We are still on the journey and have about half a month left. Things are slowing down now so expect more posts (including a reflection on last month).