The Thing Collectors

About a month ago I took over the class of a teacher who needed to resign and move away for personal reasons. I was hired on a Friday and was to start the following Monday. The principal told me that the other teacher would be cleaning out the room the weekend before I started. Not quite sure what to expect, I filled my car up with some teaching staples that I thought I might need. When I got to the classroom, I found it already filled with stuff. It was filled with a lot of stuff. Huge piles of papers were on the counters and the back table was covered with books and storage bins. No surface was unclaimed. I wondered whether the teacher had taken or cleaned out anything. I found my answer when both the principal and students came and remarked how clean the room looked. 

Slowly these past couple of weeks I have been cleaning out what I can and either trashing it, recycling it, or giving it away. In cleaning out the room I have found freezer-sized bags full of buttons, a DVD of "Classic Comedy," and Ricky Martin valentines. The recurring thoughts that I have when I find these things: Why do you even have this? Why could have possibly possessed you to keep this?

Here is a Ricky Martin valentine I made you. You're welcome!

As an outsider with no attachment to the stuff, it is easy for me to make these judgments and get rid of things without much thought. It is a great deal harder going through and getting rid of my own stuff than a stranger's. As mentioned in my previous blog post, one thing I have been trying to do to get ready for my trip is to go through and get rid of a lot of my stuff. I have some hoarding tendencies (self-diagnosed with validation from a Buzzfeed quiz).  In my current apartment I have bins that I still have not unpacked, even though I have lived here for over a year. They have followed me from my last apartment, where they also were probably never unpacked. There are books on my shelves that I got years ago, but still haven't read. There are clothes that don't fit right anymore or have holes in them. I also still have some of my stuff being stored in my parent's basement. If a stranger were to go through my apartment, they too might ask themselves: Why do you even have this? Why could have possibly possessed you to keep this?


I am alone with the problem of owning too much stuff and struggling to get rid of things. In the United States we are thing collectors.  According to the LA Times, the average American home as 300,000 items in it. One in every 10 Americans rents offsite storage (NY Times). In 2011 it was reported that Americans spend about 1.2 trillion on nonessential items each year (Wall Street Journal). Also, North America and Western Europe make up about 12% of the world's population, but account for 60% of private consumption spending. This is compared to 1/3 of the population that lives in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, who only account for 3.2% of the private consumption spending (Worldwatch Institute). Americans like to buy things and they like to buy more than they need. There are different reasons people buy more than they need and there are different reasons people have a hard time of getting rid of the excess.

Many books have recently been published lately about decluttering. One NYT bestselling book is called The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. One part of the method is to hold everything you own in your hands to see if it sparks joy. If it does not, you should get rid of it. Wreath Witherspoon definitely sparks joy for me. Cleaning products, not so much. 

For me, sentiment and nostalgia are my greatest enemies with getting rid of things. I also used to work in an archives and watch episodes of Mysteries at the Museum, so I know the importance of seemingly inconsequential items that might someday become significant. This pen seems to be like any other pen, but it is in fact this pen that helped save the lives of several astronauts (actual Mysteries at the Museum episode).  I should keep this Second City program, because someone from it might end up becoming famous and I can keep it to show that I saw them before they were famous (actual internal monologue).  At times my mom has helped me go through things.
"Can we get rid of this?" She asks as she holds something up.
On occasion it will be an easy yes. Other times I will respond with a "but I got that when ________." or " _________ gave that to me when __________." or "That is from when ________." My things have stories and I remember the stories through their physical representation. Right?

Why do you even have this? My dad bought this hat for me and it is a big hit every hat day at school.

In the movie Eat, Pray, Love, there is a scene where Elizabeth Gilbert goes to store all of her stuff in a storage locker before she leaves to go eat, pray, and love. She comments to the storage worker how it is weird to think that her whole life can fit into such a small space. The storage worker comments how amazing it is how many people never come back for their "whole life." Right now, I am having a hard time getting rid of the things that for sentimental reasons seem like they represent my whole life. They don't really though. I am not my stuff. The teacher I took over for is not Ricky Martin valentines and I am not just a shark hat. We are our collection of memories more than the memories within our things. The important memories we are able to remember without any kind of physical representation. My possessions are not my whole life. 

Even though I am more than my things, that doesn't mean that I am going to get rid of all my worldly possessions. However, since I have the opportunity to downsize and live out of what can fit in two suitcases, I am going to take it. Instead of stuff, memories are the things I want to be collecting.