Free Stuff, Genetics, and Organizing
Ever since we combined households, Fiancé and I have been paring down our stuff. We’ve just got too much of it. Granted, it’s mostly my stuff that there’s too much of; the packrat gene is strong—dominant, even— in my family. Still, I am fighting it. For example, we can actually park our two cars in our two-car garage. This makes me something of a mutant in the family. (My brother and his fiancée park all of their bikes in their one-car garage, but not the car. On the other hand, they’ve got a container garden on half of the driveway.)
Anyway, I thought about gift-wrapping a bunch of it and trying to convince wedding guests to take a mystery item home with them. Not so much the happening thing, though. And not just because gift-wrapping furniture is more trouble than it’s worth.
Instead, I joined the Fishers freecycle.org group. Oddly enough, Indianapolis doesn’t have one, but being on the northeast side, I figured Fishers was close enough. And they did let me in, so the moderators apparently agreed. I got rid of the first item on Saturday, a poufy, off-white loveseat with some cat scratch damage, which is exactly how I described it. (I was also willing to throw in the matching thow, although the eventual taker didn’t want it and I now have it listed separately.)
So far, I love it. Someone came to my door, we loaded it up in her van, and she took it away. Just that easy. And now, I have room for the much nicer, cat-scratch-free furniture that’s coming from my grandmother in a few weeks. (Muchas, muchas gracias to my aunt and uncle, who are bringing it out for me!)
I’m feeling a lot less pack-rodent-like, all the sudden. I was even inspired to clean out the trunks that we’ve had miscellaneous stuff stashed in to make room for games and puzzles that were previously in cardboard boxes. Those same boxes now hold empty jewel cases from our CD collection…that can go into a storage space and make the living room just a little less cluttered. And I feel a paperback purge coming on as well.
Maybe I’m heterozygous for the packrat gene.
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