Is a house fire an option?
I heard tell of a family with two sons. When their second was born, they wanted to have everything new: crib sheets, clothes, the whole caboodle. I thought they were nuts, or at least dreadfully impractical.
At this moment, I'm seeing their point.
I'm putting away laundry and looking ahead at the great looming task of cleaning out drawers for the change of season. It goes like this.
For Rachel: "Is this still wearable? Short sleeves don't need to be packed away. Sundresses and shorts, however, are going to go. What might fit next summer and thus shouldn't go far? What can be packed away long-term until the next girl is this size, which means at least 3-4 years? What am I not attached enough to and can give away? What would I be embarrassed to have my child seen in because of repairs or stains and thus can be thrown away?"
Repeat for Dale... and Madeleine. It's currently compounded by my own changing size and the weather, where I get to pack away my own summer maternity clothes for... someday. Sigh.
Then comes the inevitable, "Where by all the saints do I put all of this stuff? And exactly how hard is it to prove arson or insurance fraud, if I just set the whole lot on fire?"
7 Comments:
oh you and I...we, my friend, are in a mood. I, with my crazy routine phobia, you, with your fleeting house fire daydreams.
Maybe we need to chuck it all and go to Starbucks? :-)
I have long been holding out for a very localized tornado that would hit our house while we were not at home, destroy it, yet would not harm any other people, buildings, or property around us.
As a trained storm spotter, I also know that pigs will probably fly before this happens. Guess I'd better just attack the clutter... :-)
Hmmm. Sounds very complicated. I would vote for the fire, except I think they're pretty good at discovering and proving those.
Now, maybe they'd buy a crazed thief sneaking into your basement and stealing all the clothes. Your insurance covers that, right? ;-)
Yeah, I am right there with you. Can someone please tell me exactly how many stained clothes the younger siblings will need for "playing out back in the dirt," anyway? I keep saving all the older kids' clothes, but there are only so many rubbermaid tubs my house can contain.
Kasia, we don't have a basement. Or a garage. Or a third bedroom.
Which is why this whole "how much do we need to save" issue is so very important.
Some days, that scene from Waiting to Exhale--but with kids' clothes and toys--really looks good.
Don't own so much clutter that you will be relieved to see your house catch fire.
-- Wendell Berry, Prayers and Sayings of the Mad Farmer
I feel you, Heather. I hate the change of seasons clothes thing, but I can't complain, because we're in this big rambling farmhouse and I do have a place to put all the stuff (we just did a big purging of the attic in preparation for the renovations upstairs, so there's even more room than there was). My complaining is because of laziness, whereas you have a point. A fire would be a big mess too though. I guess the hidden blessing (oh just smack me for that) is that, with less place to stash stuff, you are less inundated (or less likely to stash it, since you don't have room) ???
Post a Comment
<< Home