by Tricia
A few days ago, I mentioned that my garage sale was going to be huge. A big reason that it is going to be so big is that I am getting rid of most of my possessions.
There are key things I will keep. Mainly the things that I use on a regular basis. No more of this, “I better keep it because I might need it someday.” Something I’ve realized lately is that the more stuff you have…the more things you have to take care of. I don’t want to spend my time taking care of “stuff.” I want to spend my time enjoying my life with my family. That has been the biggest revelation I have made in the past few days, much of it brought about by the book I will be reviewing tomorrow.
That said, I am getting rid of things I never thought I would part with. Ever since I was younger, I have had a love for bald eagles. Slowly, I started collecting little eagle figures. After a while, I started buying other things with eagles on them. Everything sits in a cabinet in our living room and I admit, I barely look at them. In fact, I stopped acquiring new items since starting our debt reduction journey because I no longer wanted to spend money on them.
Yesterday, I spent a good portion of the night going through my collection and adding price tags. The sheer variety of eagle things I had collected amazed me. Here’s just a few tidbits: bandaid, air freshener, knives, lighters, buttons, pins, spoon, bald eagle in a can, necklaces, watches, etc. The more unusual it was, the better.
I thought it would be harder for me to go through my bald eagle collection and price everything. But it was pretty easy. I thought long and hard about my collection, and I came to a few conclusions:
1.) I received no enjoyment from that collection except to say that I collect bald eagle items and have them for display (show). After I purchased something, it went in the cabinet and the only time I’d touch them was if we had to move the cabinet or we moved to a new home.
2.) It takes time to dust and clean things. Even sitting in the cabinet, they still would collect dust. Having them there was one more thing to clean and one more thing taking up my time.
3.) The collection cost me a bit of money, but for resale it is worth very little. Most of the items were purchased at “tourist trap” type areas and were very overpriced. Except for a few pieces, the likelihood of my collection going up in value was very unlikely so it was no where near to being an investment.
4.) Instead of spending money on my collection, I would rather work a little bit less and go out in nature and enjoy watching the real thing in the wild. I haven’t seen a bald eagle in some time, mostly because I am not out and about as much as I would like to be.
Overall, I had a display cabinet full of items. Now, I only have a few items left. They include a picture that I drew and one eagle my mom gave me along with a few bald eagles that she painted. Everything else is up for sale. I’m not sad, though. It actually feels a little liberating because I feel that simplifying my life will provide more pleasure than any collection could.
Of course, I’m not saying that you should go out and sell your collection(s). It’s a very personal choice. For me, though, I feel very good about my decision. It feels wonderful to be simplifying my life.
More about this tomorrow with the book review…
