Sydney Avey
Dynamic Woman — Changing Times
Great Giveaway: The tyranny of thrift
A painful crossroads in the Great Giveaway, but these items have outlived their usefulness.
In the name of thrift, we save stuff
Our parents practiced thrift. They saved everything and passed it down with the tacit agreement that we would do the same. Those of us raised by the greatest generation have some literal baggage to deal with.
To avoid the physical stress, mental exercise, and emotional pain of dealing with stuff, we stash it high on our shelves. We shove it deep in our drawers. Our closets are full of it.
Our children tell us exactly what will happen if we dare try to foist any of our stuff onto them.
Go to Goodwill. Go directly to Goodwill. Do not pass Goering crystal onto us. Do not collect 200 boxed Hummel figurines and expect us to store them for posterity.
That is what our kids are saying.
I get it. I’m a believer. I celebrate the simpler life, where I can open a cabinet door and spot what I’m looking for at glance without getting a step stool (because now the top shelves I can’t reach are empty–well, not all of them, but I’m getting there), or moving things around in hopes that what I am looking for is hiding behind something else. But…
I have a confession to make. Spring cleaning is getting harder. Driven to fulfill my pledge to toss/donate/give away one item a day, I have reached the pain point. Everything I own is now under the gun, and something has to go, everyday. I find myself using the same excuses my mother used. (Don’t you hate it when that happens?)
I might need it someday. I said that about my 15 cup Cuisinart Coffee Maker. Truth: I have never figured out how to operate it properly and I’ve never had 12 guest demand coffee after a meal I served them. As politically incorrect has they are becoming, my Keurig does the trick.
It’s an antique! It’s an heirloom! It’s pretty! I said that about the my three Blue Ridge Southern Pottery plates and two matching cups and saucers. They take up half a cabinet and are useless. I have other more beautiful, more valuable, more beloved reminders of my beloved Nana.
It might come back into fashion. Yes, but not in the shape, size, or color you have hanging in your closet. True, classic style is always in, but most of us lack the fashion sense and funds to have invested in truly classic clothes. We don’t look classic in those old clothes, we look dated.
Still…if you love it, and it loves you, by all means, wear it. I wish I still had the granny dress I sewed for myself in the Sixties. Granny chic is in. Sadly, it is the twenty-somethings who are dying their hair gray while us mumble-somethings keep trying for just the right shade of red, blond or brown. What’s up with that?
I have it on good authority from friends who own an antique store that dishes and (gulp) silver don’t sell. Not only do I not want it anymore, no one else does either! It is hard to acknowledge that what once held value no longer does. When we hang onto that stuff, that’s not thrift, that’s sentimentality. But just in case I’m wrong, would anyone like a full set of Noritake china? I’ll throw in the matching green crystal goblets I haven’t touched in thirty years. A little dusty, but they’re serviceable.
Be extravagant. Toss with abandon!
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The Great Giveaway: Shedding 365 Possessions
Toss with abandon. I love that motto. After downsizing a couple of years ago I understand what you’re going through. It gets easier once you get into it and then you’re stuck with nothing but the hard stuff. I still have a set of china packed away. I don’t want it. My daughter doesn’t want it. And no one wants to buy it. It’s hard to imagine I spent so much time and money in the early part of my life collecting the set.