When I was younger I never threw anything away. This isn't to say I was a hoarder. I threw mostly useless shit away sure. But I was a collector (as in collectibles) so I had a lot of things that were collected. Maybe it was some OCD "everything in a line" problem. I liked to have the collection, complete the collection, and think that I'd never get rid of the collection. I had toy collections, comic book collections, sports card collections and more.
On top of all of that, I was (and still am) an avid reader; I like to buy DVD's; and up until the digital age, I had a ton of CD's as well.
Living on your own changes the way you perceive your "stuff." You want stuff, sure, but you also have to be aware of where you're going to put "stuff." This is the difference between hoarders and normal people who don't want to live in filth. You know you have a limited amount of space, so you have to evaluation the things you own and buy to determine what stays and what goes.
Moving also changes the way you perceive your "stuff." When I moved out of my apartment and back in with my parents for two years (to recover from debt I let an ex-girlfriend put me in, and to help me save for a house), I realized that I had many more items than I thought I did. I was moving from a large apartment back into a single room in my parents' house, so things had to go. On top of that, I knew I was going to be moving again. Nothing sucks more than moving except moving twice - all the packing and lifting. I decided right there that I was going to throw a lot of stuff out and start over from scratch.
I threw a lot out. This included dishes, a convection oven and furniture (given to a friend). The most important items that I threw out though were my CD's. These were important in a psychological sense.
Until that point, my CD collection was an ever-growing space consumer. I had an iPod at the time, but "felt" that digital music just wasn't the same. Without that physical item in hand, it didn't feel real... or owned (or important). Furthermore, I may have had the music in a digital format, but I still wouldn't have had the cover art and CD insert. Those things were important to the entire "feel" of owning music weren't they?
Moving changed all that. I decided that digital was the way to go, as I didn't want to move this large collection around to several places. I burned all the music I wanted to my computer hard drive and threw almost every CD out... and never looked back.
I felt slightly liberated.
Next came the move from parents' house into my own home.
Once again, I felt the need to not have to move so much stuff. Despite everything that I trashed when I moved out of my apartment, I still had a ton of stuff (and a lot of collectibles). Most notably: 17 1/2 long boxes filled with comic books and 2 1/2 book shelves filled with books (not to mention books shoved into my computer stand, as well as inside of two closets).
Twice I went through my book collection seeing what I really could do without. These books were either donated, recycled or simply thrown away. It was still tough to box up and move the remaining, but I whittled everything down to almost 2 1/2 book shelves worth (no more shoving books in closets). My comic books stayed at my parents' place for the time being.
Once again, with books, I had that same feeling as with CD's: the physical ownership. I had bought a Kindle, which allowed me to eliminate most of my technology books, but eBook readers are still a ways off from duplicating the ease of navigation that a simple low-tech bound book has. But as I started to look at my cluttered office in my new 1,400 square foot home, I started to realize that I just wanted to live a less cluttered life. I've since gone through my book collection twice and am down to less than two bookshelves full of books, and another half bookcase that contains my trade paperback comic books.
That brings us to my comic book collection. My house may be 1,400 square feet (a nice sized rancher), but I have no garage and no basement. In fact, I have very little storage space. What's more, I have a fiance. This means that I really just own the 8 x 8 room that consists of my office. The rest of the house is off limits.
Something needed to be done. So I donated my comic books to Collectibles with Causes.
Not all of them, but 13 long boxes full. Out of the 4 1/2 long boxes left, I sent a 1/2 long box (my Silver Surfer comics) to Brandon Whaley. I'm keeping the other four long boxes, but when I finally move them into my house, I'll be going through them as well (one last time) and will probably eliminate another box or two and donate them to charity, the local library or sell them on eBay.
Honestly, I feel better for it all, and as time has gone by, I realize that I "need" less and less in life. At least, I no longer feel the need to "own" so much "stuff." It's a good feeling, and I'm seriously considering another round of eliminating books. We'll have to see if any of them have popped up in the Kindle store just yet.
