We are living in a material world

I have had an I can't stand clutter and I want it all out of my house week.  I'm not one to keep a lot of unnecessary stuff around my house.  I enjoy taking bags of clothes and toys and random stuff  to the DI.  Really I should be saving it all and start having yard sales.  There are three problems with that for me 1:  I can't stand to have that much stuff laying around my house at one time 2:  It seems a bit awkward for me to have strange people roaming through my yard deciding if my stuff is good enough for them and 3:  how in the world do people know what to ask (as far as price goes) for used stuff.  I would feel bad if someone wanted my super cool item that I thought should be worth at least 20 bucks and they only want to pay 50 cents.  Don't they realize how cool it is? (which is totally why I am getting rid of it in the first place, right?)


Anyway, I got a bit side tracked there.  My point to this is we all have too much crap.  We complain and complain that we always want bigger or better.  Bigger houses, better cars, new phones, computers, ipads, clothes etc etc etc.  This list could be ten pages long.  Why do we need it all?  I want to go back to the good old days when families with ten kids lived in a two bedroom house.  Everyone had chickens and grew their own food.  Clothing was worn until it absolutely couldn't make it through just one more kid.  Moms got to stay home instead of having to go back to work to help pay the bills.   Don't get me wrong here.  I am so grateful for modern conveniences.  I love that we have been blessed with so much stuff.  But that is all it is.  Just stuff.   Some days it is just too much.  When we have people in three different parts of the house each watching their own t.v. I think there is something wrong with that. But do I actually do anything about it.  No. (go me!)


Yesterday I went to put some toys away and realized that what we had was insane. There is no way the kids had played with 90% of the toys that were laying around. So I dumped them all out.  Got rid of a great big load of garbage.  A large load of DI toys and STILL had a full toy box, 3 large bins full of toys, and a wall lined with large cars and trucks.  This doesn't even count the toys that are in their bedrooms.  What kills me the most is I have toy clean outs like this about 3 times a year.  Then today I went to put laundry away and realized all of the drawers and closets were so full they were starting to vomit all over the bedroom floor.  So I made the boys play dress up -which they LOVED- and we still have so many clothes it is pathetic.  Dilon and Grif are at an age when they can pretty much share their clothes (I think that means I had them way to close together).  Would you like to know how many t-shirts they have right now that fit them.  Go ahead and take a guess.  43!  That's right FORTY THREE!!!!!  I just made myself go recount because I still can't believe that is accurate.  It sure is. Those are just the t-shirts.  They still have long sleeved shirts, church shirts, hoodies, jerseys and t-shirts that I am making them use for pj's.  I'm telling you.  I am ready to donate it all, move to a farm out in the middle of nowhere, get rid of the stinking internet, cell phones, t.v.'s, toys, yada yada, buy me some chickens and shut all of this worldliness away!



**as I re-read this post I know I sound totally ungrateful.  I really am thankful for all I have.  This blasted world has just made so many things unnecessary.  It doesn't seem right when I have so much and there are people who can't even feed or clothe their kids.  And I still complain about wanting more.  Looks like it's time to get my priorities straightened out.