Becoming an Unkeeper

First, on a continuum where “keep” and “throw” are on opposite ends, I’ve always been situated firmly on the “keep” end. Secondly, I seldom “throw away” anything, so perhaps give/reprocess/recycle more accurately describes that other end I very occasionally moved toward. Having said that, when our family was young, we lived in Kenya and during that 15 year period, we moved back and forth between Africa and the US two times. These moves required the selling of all of our household belongings...and everything we couldn’t take with us on the plane. As we priced items for each sale, I was surprised to realize that most of my possessions also had an “emotional value” that could not be measured monetarily, but which made parting with them difficult. I liked to “keep”, it felt good and provided a sense of security. For most of my life I have done that very well, to the point that I have acquired embarrassingly more possessions than I need or could use. And, of course, there’s that strong emotional attachment that feeds into that “keep” mentality. However, as I’ve gotten older (and hopefully wiser), I find myself moving toward the other end of the keep/throw spectrum. Thankfully, I’ve had help along the way. My children don’t want my things and I don’t want them to be forced to rent a dumpster after I’m gone- and that’s been a great motivator. The recarpeting of our home necessitated the emptying and moving of way too many books from way too many bookshelves. And, it’s so much easier to find recipes on the internet, so why did I need an entire bookcase of recipe books (not to mention I don't cook very often anymore)? Alas, I have become an “unkeeper”...and I like me better this way. More and more of my possessions are finding new homes with people who actually need them. I have delighted unknown scores of bibliophiles. Our home is less cluttered. And to my great surprise, I have found incredible joy and freedom in this process of “letting go”. As for what I am keeping, I am learning to practice what Marie Kondo advocates: keep only those things that speak to the heart, and discard items that no longer spark joy.

— cmshingle