My Theory of Stuff

Part of this move is about clearing out the old to make room for the new. In doing so, I am going through every box, closet, drawer and container with intense scutiny. Through this process, I have found items spanning back to my childhood and trailing through all of my past years to the present.

It was somewhere between sneezes in the dusty garage that my theory of stuff was born.

Leah's Completely Unofficial Unproven Theory of Stuff

Baby Stuff
When we're born, we have no stuff. Technically, our crib and all those baby shower goodies are our parent's stuff to take care of us.

Children Stuff
As we grow older, we get gifts for brithdays and Christmas or buy things with our allowance that becomes our stuff. This stuff is often disposable things we grow out of -- Barbie dolls, Ninetendo, (OK, I know some men who haven't grown out of this, but that's a whole other discussion <>), tricycle, Easy-Bake oven, etc.

Teen Stuff
In our teen years, we want the stuff our friends have so we can be like them even though they have no idea who they are either. And, of course, we want a car so we can go do stuff.

College Stuff
Out on our own, we realize that most of what we've been using to live (furniture, pots and pans, bed, etc.) wasn't our stuff. We scramble to find basic living stuff wherever we can for as cheap as we can. After all, money needs to be spent on important things like a wicked Halloween costume and bar cover charges. This basic living stuff is usually mismatched and used, but we don't care, it works.

20-Something Stuff
Once out of college and into a paying job and housing that is respectable, we replace our college stuff with matching stuff. For most people I've observed matching stuff means foam IKEA couches and Target particle board furniture that takes three people to figure out the directions that are only vaguely corrent once you do get it put together. However, it's inexpensive, and compared to the worn bean bag you bought at a garage sale, it looks pretty decent.

Married Stuff
Promotions kick in, you get married, buying a home happens and suddenly that once cool looking space age plastic IKEA chair with the lime green cushion doesn't cut it for the kind of stuff you want. One wedding registry and a Pottery Barn credit card later and the whole house has been outfitted in better matching stuff. Wedding gift registries are all about better matching stuff!

It's this married better matching stuff that I have been selling off. For one, I have been divorced for 13 years. When I think about it, it's a little creepy that I still have so much stuff from then still around--the blender, towels, vases, pots and pans, dishes, etc.--all wedding gifts.

Why do I still have it? Well, that's the thing about better matching stuff. It doesn't fall apart when it's moved, and moved again, and moved again...

Now that I'm getting rid of the better matching stuff, I wonder what's next? Is there a better than better matching stuff--Gucci furniture or something that is the next phase?

Does my theory of stuff fit for you? Where are you in the "stuff continuum"? I'd love to hear your stories...