I'm on board with the one in, one out approach to keeping down clutter. Replacing instead of adding belongings is especially important because all two not small adults, one giant eleven-year-old, and two medium-ish dogs of us are sharing one 864 square foot house.
And yet... and yet. How do I account for the overflowing travel mug/water bottle cabinet? These two beat-to-hell water bottles do not "spark joy." They have ceased to be useful or beautiful and they are still here.
A much younger Bob created the Harry Potter and goldfish/baseball/scratch-that-out-and-start-that-triangle-over-right-here artwork on the bottles, but we have a lot of Bob's artwork. The bottles are leaky and smell like the indoor pool at the Y.
These bottles have been carried around in a Star Wars lunch box. They have been battered inside a Little League baseball bag. They have been used to dig sand and hold weeds that are pretending to be flowers. They are not history themselves but are witnesses.
I remind myself that I am a witness too as I carefully place the bottles in the trash.
A much younger Bob created the Harry Potter and goldfish/baseball/scratch-that-out-and-start-that-triangle-over-right-here artwork on the bottles, but we have a lot of Bob's artwork. The bottles are leaky and smell like the indoor pool at the Y.
These bottles have been carried around in a Star Wars lunch box. They have been battered inside a Little League baseball bag. They have been used to dig sand and hold weeds that are pretending to be flowers. They are not history themselves but are witnesses.
I remind myself that I am a witness too as I carefully place the bottles in the trash.
From what you just wrote, I suspect they sparked a ton o' joy for quite some time. What I learned during my own joy-sparking journey is that sometimes a picture of that which once sparked joy takes up less space and will probably spark joy again.
ReplyDeleteYes. The photograph makes it all possible. XoXo
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