Fool.com: A Foolish Lightening of The Load (Fribble) August 3, 1998

Monday, August 3, 1998

A Foolish Lightening of The Load
by George Runkle
([email protected])

As part of our move to Atlanta, we discovered we needed to de-clutter. When we moved up here from Rockville, it took twice as long to pack the junk as it should have, and it took months to put everything away. What's worse is we rented a storage unit for $50 to hold the stuff during the time our house was on the market. That was to make our tiny townhouse look less cluttered. After we moved to Pittsburgh seven years ago, we read Clutter's Last Stand, by Don Aslett. I wish we had read it sooner; we'd have saved a lot of money and aggravation. Let me go through some of the stuff we got rid of, and see if you might be in the same situation.

1964 Thunderbird -- This was the topic of an earlier Fribble. I inherited it from my parents, and never really liked the car. I forced myself to like it after inheriting it, and spent over $5,000 on repairs and restoration in the past seven years. How would we have moved it to Atlanta? I was going to fly up here and drive it down. A special trip for a car that has been nothing but a headache since I got it. Of course I needed to rebuild the rear brakes first, which was another $300 or so, not counting the time. Naturally, a car that old is a little unreliable, so any breakdown along the way (highly probable) would leave me at the mercy of an unknown repair shop. As usual for "treasures" like this, it isn't worth what many people think, but it sure was worth it to me to sell it this past Saturday.

Drafting Table -- Oh, this was a gem. Dad had his own engineering firm, which was, in its heyday, quite large and respected in the DC area. Here was something to remember it by. It wasn't a wimpy little drafting board like architecture students have; no, this was a MANLY drafting board, suitable for drawing plans and landing aircraft if the need should arise. Dad gave me this when he finally folded the last of his firm, when I was in my junior year of college. This was like a ball and chain, taking up space in a tiny apartment, tiny houses, and never really being used. Don Aslett convinced me I didn't need it, and I gave it away. I enjoyed it the most after it left my driveway.

Army uniform -- I know in You Have More Than You Think, the Gardner brothers refer to me as an Army lieutenant, and I was in the Army once, and a lieutenant once (I'm a major in the Air National Guard). Both were a long time ago. I still lugged around my dress greens from my three-year enlistment in the Army since I got out in 1977. I didn't do anything interesting, spent the whole time on Ft. Dix, NJ, and my biggest accomplishment was not getting in as much trouble as I deserved. I tossed this, along with a number of worn out Air Force uniforms. If my descendents really care about how I looked in uniform, there are pictures, or they can go to a museum.

Diving gear -- Years ago I took up scuba diving; the problem is, I am afraid of water. I almost drowned as a little boy, and I never really got over it. I guess as a perverse way of conquering my fear, I confronted it head on. The problem was that I was just as scared to dive the 20th time as I was the first. It wasn't fun, and worse yet, I have had a chronic ear infection since 1994. If this infection ever heals, I'm not bringing it back by scuba diving. It was time to sink a pastime I never should have brought to surface in the first place.

Clothes -- One thing you notice about being middle aged is how fast years begin to go by. That favorite T-shirt that you think you bought a year or so ago may really be 10 years old. I found one commemorating an obscure event I attended in 1980. Not only is the wording on the shirt a mouthful, but it advertises to everyone that I'm wearing an 18-year-old shirt. I don't even want to talk about the two suits I bought in my senior year in college. Did they fit? I don't think we're talking about that right now. Besides, Goodwill can make good use of them.

Encyclopedia Something-or-the-Other -- My sons didn't even look at that collection of books. If they want to look something up, they use the Encarta CD, or search the Web. In my day, parents were made to feel quite guilty if their children didn't have an encyclopedia in their bedrooms. The advertisements indicated that the poor tykes would never know what an Aardvark is, forcing them to a life of unrewarding unskilled labor. I have enough to feel guilty about, so the books are gone too. If I want to feel guilty, I'll pick something that doesn't take up space in my bookshelf.

There are other things we threw out, sold, or donated to charity. The end result is a lightening of the load we have to carry around with us; that's obvious. Also, storing what's left is easier. Finding things we use and need isn't such a struggle. Finally, we don't have to spend money maintaining stuff, storing it, or finding a house big enough to fit it all in. Like a ship casting off excess ballast, we move through life faster, cheaper, and with less expense. As they say, "less is Foolish." They don't say that? They should!