Purging and Reacquiring

When we moved from our house in the city to the rural countryside, Helpful Husband and I had planned to downsize. Now empty nesters, we no longer needed a larger home, such as where we’d raised our three children.

The new house we'd chosen had less closet space, one less bedroom, a much smaller kitchen with fewer cabinets and, it did not have an unfinished basement that spanned the breadth of the entire first floor. A basement that could easily serve as an indoor roller skating rink during cold Chicago winters… -but, I’m getting off track here. 

Basically, we’d traded a older bungalow with a generous indoor capacity and a typically small city lot for a newer, smaller house with a spacious outdoor scape. No problem, I reasoned, we'll usually have guests during the warm summer months and after cozying down at night for sleep, our guests can all spill outdoors during the day. It amazes me just how rosy my positive-spin mind can paint a scene… 

We’ve all read the tales of Baby Boomer collectors, like Helpful Husband and I, who have then gone on to spawn Gen X-ers and Millennials who abhor “clutter” of any type. Nostalgia-based-on-tangible-objects is the enemy of my children, at least. On the other hand, I feel there is some hope for my three grandchildren who can accumulate and re-clutter with the best of them. Older Son and Lovely Daughter-in-Law laid out the rules early on, if their children were to be recipients of any new toy, said children must first purge an older toy, passing the discard along to a friend or family member, or by donating the castoff to charity. 

Oh, but it is often with agony that such decisions are made, for each toy seems to hold some precious value. “No, puh-leeze, Dad, not my one-eyed stuffed snake!! I cannot give him away!” 

As we prepared for our move, Helpful Husband and I began the painful process of purging our treasures. 

We are now beginning our 6th year in our new home and I am embarrassed to say it is showing signs of being filled to capacity. Closets, nooks and cabinets are stuffed.

Our carpenter friend was here recently to install a sliding door and handrail, and to resurface a wall and such. He asked if he could store the scrap material overnight in our garage as he’d forgotten to attach the trailer to his truck, necessary to haul away the refuse. “Certainly,” said Helpful Husband, “Give me a few minutes and I'll move some things around in the garage to make room.” His head thrown back in laughter, Carpenter Friend said, “Wait, what is this 'move some things around’ business? I thought I built that new shed for you last year for the specific purpose of your then having ample elbow room in your garage! What is with you guys!?"

On occasion Helpful Husband and I make a day trip to one of a handful of quaint and not-so-quaint river towns that dot the edges of the Mississippi River. We usually stop somewhere in town for lunch and then take in the sights. When it comes to antique stores in a river town, (as the saying goes) you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting one. Audrey’s is a go-to favorite of ours. It’s a large two-story “antique, collectibles and useables” shop. I think I read somewhere that it takes up an impressive 18,000 square feet. 

Sometime back on a visit to Audrey’s I became smitten with a half-dozen little glasses I'd found tucked in a corner on her 2nd floor. The glasses were identical to glassware that I'd given away when we purged our city house of “stuff” years back. I just had to have them. The curve of the glass had the perfect feel in my hand. And you know it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if I was actually buying back my own, once purged, merchandise.

As I was purchasing my little glasses, Helpful Husband was standing about 20 feet away taking a last glance at merchandise near the entrance door. Audrey said to me, “Where  did you find these?” “On the 2nd floor,” I responded, indicating the north side of the building. “Why, I had a customer looking for these recently. I told her they were on the second floor. She must have missed them. You know those are wine glasses, right?” 

From his adjoining spot, Helpful Husband calls out, “Well, if they’re wine glasses then you certainly have the right buyer.” Really, Helpful Husband, really? I hardly know this woman and yet you feel a need to paint me with this unflattering broad swath? But, I chuckle aloud, as does Audrey. 

Just around the corner from Audrey’s we discover a new place. The purveyor sells a mix of vintage clothing, secondhand household furniture, and odds and ends. Price tags are attached to items with an original price & three additional dates, all with corresponding “non-haggle” but very reasonable prices. Every so often the price reduces. So if you desire an item you check the date. It’s gives an indication of how long the item has been for sale. Then you may gamble and wait for the final reduced price, hoping no one else has purchased it in the interim. Or you may grab it immediately, if it’s something you feel you cannot be without.

In our first visit to the the “just around the corner” shop, Helpful Husband quickly spots an object in which I, at some point, verbalized an interest. The item is in its first round of prices, with an opportunity to come down a few dollars, if I am willing to chance it and wait. Helpful (Financially-Astute) Husband reminds that we recently saw a similar one at Audrey’s for twice the amount. Too good to pass up, I grab it.

Helpful Husband’s critical thinking is invaluable to me on our forays among “junque." When I show him an item I can immediately detect from his facial expression whether it is merely a whimsy or whether it is something likely to bring some form (no matter how short term) of gratification to me or to our lives. He is also handy for keeping a running list in his brain of items in which I’ve expressed an interest. He is a much better “spotter” than me. Why I twice walked right past these darling sangria glasses that his trained eye spotted at once.

On our way back from Iowa recently we passed a new “antique” shop somewhere just west of Elizabeth, Illinois. Helpful Husband spotted it and made a quick (and legal) u-turn.

The multi-room shop is housed in a old schoolhouse, and construction workers were busily making repairs and updates near the front of the building. As is usually the case, the other dozen or so customers inside were people our age, retirees. Younger people simply have no use for old stuff.

But, to me it is like a museum visit. As I pass a woman, she looks at me with wide eyes and says, “It is all just so overwhelming.”

I smile and nod in agreement as I think, yes, just who is it that accumulates all of this stuff?

But, I immediately know the answer: It is me. 

And more is the pity for my children, who will have to give away, sell or donate all of it when Helpful Husband and I take leave of planet Earth.

***

"A bargain is something you can't use at a price you can't resist."
--Franklin P. Jones

darling sangria glasses (& a "bargain" at 6 for $2)

a full-basement/roller rink

four-stage pricing

must have, reacquired little glasses

metal watering can bought at "just around the corner" store  & outfitted ala Pinterest idea

"Junque" in an old schoolhouse

note the gymnasium floor?

***

"You can't have everything--where would you put it? "

--Steven Wright

I'd almost forgotten to post this photo of our shed (meant to alleviate insufficient garage storage)
built by our amazing Carpenter Friend -I described what I wanted to him and he built it exactly as specified...