the house is mine

This weekend, Anne and I cleaned out our garage again, but this time instead of just moving things around and re-organizing them, we opened up boxes and actually got rid of as much stuff as we could. She kept saying, "I don't want our kids to have to do this when we die, because we held on to a bunch of crap."

Of course, by "we" she actually meant "me," because I have accumulated so much material bullshit over my 34 years, I can go into my garage once a year or so, and throw out 1/2 the stuff that's in there. I know this violates several basic mathematical laws, but it is backed up by several years' worth of trials.

Whenever I do this, I feel a rush of freedom and serenity as I find and jettison things that were once very important to me, but are now simply "more bullshit I don't need." This time, however, I also paused to remember why the stuff I was keeping deserved to be kept: my grey fleece jacket from TNG, my original printing of Hacker Crackdown and box after box of comics, scripts and call sheets from nearly every movie I've worked on, hundreds of photographs I took when I lived in Nice filming Mr. Stitch, and a three big Rubbermaid tubs filled with bits of Star Trek memorabilia that would be collector's items to Trekkies, but are heirlooms for me.

It wasn't all good: some rats chewed up and destroyed a lot of things which had sentimental value to Anne (causing my devotion to not poisoning those little motherfuckers to undergo a serious reevaluation) and when we were finished, it still felt like we needed to get rid of half the stuff that's in there.

However, once the surviving stuff was stored and stacked, we both felt better about it than we did when we started. It was like we did a little springtime pruning, ensuring that though we still have too much stuff, our stuff doesn't own us.

Except for my vast collection of classic SF books. That stuff totally owns me.

Err, pwns. Yeah. That's it.

Comments

[Rhettro]

I'm in the process of doing this myself. Everything must go! Except for my old Gamma World RGP set. LOL

[Meg]

My husband the grip still wears his grey fleece TNG jacket. He worked on TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise but the only coat he kept and wears is that grey one from TNG.

[brazos605]

I've been doing the same thing for the past two weeks, in order to move from a larger condo to a smaller single family home. In a few minutes, I have a date with a storage unit. Ooh, baby!

[iamhoff]

Didn't quite get to that scale, but I did go thru the closets, and get rid of about 6 years worth of magazines, credit card statements, bank statements, service records for cars that I owned 3 cars ago...why the hell do we keep this kind of crap? My poor shredder. Still, the feeling of accomplishment is huge! Task pwned! Enjoy the feeling, 'cause you're gonna have to do it again in 6 months!

[exdeadguy]

Remember if you keep unloading 1/2 your stuff, you'll never run out. The Tortoise always beats Achilles, who runs twice as fast.

At least you have all your old stuff. I just found out my mom took "2 huge boxes of books" to goodwill. There goes my chronicling of Piers Anthony's slide into mediocrity.

[SenseLess]

I tend to just add additions as I need more room to store things...

[MJ]

There is nothing like getting rid of old crap you don't need. I don't know why but it is always cathartic for me. Starting fresh is so, uh, refreshing.
Rats? Why, just put down Cadillac dog food!

[CHV]

It does feel good to unload oneself of all sorts of junk. After doing so, it's almost like you can hear your house take a long, deep breath.

Still, I never underestimate the power of my shiny objects, especially things like old childhood toys and a fishing trophy I won with my Dad at age seven that proudly reside on my bookshelf as a sort of Museum of Me.

Sorry to hear about Anne's rat damage, though, Wil.

Fortunately, it sounds like much of your stuff was OK, esp the TNG jacket.

Stuff like that is obviously irreplacable.

[James M]

Have you considered donating some of the TNG stuff to an archive or museum? Like the Smithsonian Institute? I think the SI has some Star Trek memorabilia already. That should at least save it for posterity and from rats.

[Rebecca]

The spring purge... I don't envy you... not one bit...

[raphael]

Those goddamned rats. Although I had a couple of red shirts tell me that "the area is secure, sir" (before being eaten by a bougainvillea), a rat once snuck into my garage, shacked up in a box of precious, precious books, pissed all over them, and generally destroyed everything within, no doubt chuckling maniacally while it did it.

Since the rat-destroying-my-stuff incident, I've zealously gone over the whole garage for ports of entry, doors, transporter rooms, or places where a cziltang brone may still be functioning. I think I've sealed everything.

And yet ... I still feel them out there, waiting for their chance to ruin more.

Because of the issue with predatory animals getting poisoned by proxy, I don't poison them either. But, oh, how I sometimes wish I could, Wil.

[beelkay]

Seems like you could donate some of that stuff...there must be a museum or academy or something out there that would snatch it up!

[Knightjorge]

My downfall is pig paraphernalia. Seriously. I don't know how many stuffed, ceramic, and electronic pigs that I have. I even have a pig pez dispenser.

Sad will be the day when I decide to unload all of my pigs.

[Lone Jedi]

I've been in the process of moving lately (thanks to the housing market, I've been "in the process" for over seven months now...) and wished desperately that I'd had time to do The Big Purge *before* the movers came and boxed everything up 5 months ago. Now everything I own, junk to gems, is in a big storage unit waiting for my wife and I to finally get our move complete (the old house *just* sold, so hopefully we'll be in to a new one within the next two months!).

Then I have to start coming up with more reasons not to keep putting off The Big Purge as we start going through all those boxes. *Blech*

I hope I remember to come back to this entry at that time in order to regain my inspiration from your example, Wil.

[Lia]

>Of course, by "we" she actually meant "me,"<

hehe
Well, cleanliness always need.

And thank you for sharing kind of things as well. Thats makes me feel good after a longgg hard day at work. I adore my job as web designer but customers!

[R]

Ha! I was also purging this weekend, getting rid of a lot of old college papers that are of no earthly use to me any more. I hear you on the pack-rattish tendencies--it amazes me how much stuff I've accumulated in 30 years. But as you say, some stuff is well worth keeping. I really wish my mom hadn't thrown out her clothes from the 60s..man I would look cute in those now!

Uh, I think I got a little distracted there. Anyway, yes--purging good, but saving also good.

:)

[shewhobeatsass]

*sighs* Most of the stuff in the garage is Dad's...I'm not ready to purge any of it. Mom got a bunch of his clothes together to take to Goodwill, but she hasn't taken them yet. She says me and Wendy (little sis) can look through the sweatshirts and take what we want before she does.

On a happier purging note, I cleaned out my closet when I was at home last weekend, and I found $40 and my Barbies! Um, no I don't still play with Barbies at 19! *laughs* Seriously, I don't...I'm saving them for any future girl children I might have. They're in rather good condition and have a decent amount of clothes, so it'll give my future daughter a leg-up in the preschool popularity contest.

[tjp]

Please come do mine!

Please?

________________________
Number of Operations Iraq Freedom and Enduring Freedom casualties
as confirmed by U.S. Central Command: 3583
________________________

[vincentsmommy]

Wow! Sounds like Spring cleaning is in full swing everywhere. Unfortunately, due to the heavy rains last week here in the Midwest and a couple of new cracks in our basement walls, I ended up going through ALL of our cardboard boxes which had gotten wet from sitting on the basement floor. I threw out/moved to plastic bins various knicknacks, memorabilia, and holiday decorations and have a great bin full of stuff for a future garage sale.

Not only did I find many things I'd forgotten about and love, I also found the dead body of some type of rodent underneath one of the boxes. Suffice it to say, the odor emanating from the basement these past few months was probably not from our cat's litter box as we had thought. Anyone know how to remove dead rodent smell from a wet basement floor (that will probably continue to get wet during what could be a very rainy Spring)?

[Kristy]

I love that feeling after seriously de-cluttering! That was going to be one of my Lenten activities, but it looks like labwork and trying to graduate is going to eat up that intention. Though I really, really want to decllutter BEFORE I have to pack up for the next move.

[Virago7]

I felt the need to comment because Anne's comment really struck a chord with me. I just had clean out my father's house after he moved to a rest home.

It's not just wishing he'd cleared out the junk, but I wished he was around to explain the various momentos. I was completely at a loss as to what was an "heirloom" and what was a tsotchke -- like was the Niagara Falls mug a momento of a roadtrip he took with my mom before she passed or just something he picked up during a business trip?

Thankfully Nolan and Ryan will at least have this blog post to help them down the road.

[FABIAN]

Wil,

I threw some stuff away last weekend and must throw out much more. I have no children, so I better hurry.

FG

[One Salient Oversight]

So I just checked out Mr Stitch.

Wow, you got to act with Ron Jeremy!

Oh... and Rutger Hauer, AKA Roy "Replicant" Batty

...And Ron "One" Perlman.

...And worked with Roger Avery - maybe he could get you a gig with Quentin and "restart" your career al la John Travolta (but without the Scientology)

[Mickel]

I recognize your actions. I moved from a condo to a house, yet, I don't have as much storage space, thus... I can't stack as much anymore. My wife and me will have to be very careful in deciding what to keep and to keep it that way. I am actually pleased about that, because I don't like to be a pack rat :)

Soooo... @MJ - March 27, 2007 at 09:51 AM
I know exactly what you mean.

[Jake]

I am totally not trying to sound crass or anything like that...But any Star Trek stuff you don't want send it my way..I'll even pay for shipping.../me takes fan boy hat off and backs away slowly :-D