More and more, I have come to realize that while necessity may be the mother of invention, desire is the mother of excess. I've noticed that my new home is quite cluttered with, as the late George Carlin would classify it, "Stuff". I believe that I have acquired so much "stuff" now that most of it is no longer of any use, simply because it is buried under piles of other stuff that I haven't found a suitable storage location for yet. Because it is not being used, I probably don't need most of it anymore, but on the off chance that I might have to use some of it at some point, the paradox then is what stuff do I get rid of and what stuff do I keep. Some of this stuff is expensive, and also won't last forever, so not only does that make it harder to get rid of, but it makes me think I may need to get more expensive stuff to eventually replace the expensive stuff I have before it is no good anymore. Which brings up another problem, upgrades. What do I do with the stuff that I've replaced with better stuff? The original stuff worked fine, and is still good, and cost me money, but because I have new and improved stuff, the old good stuff is no longer useful either.

I have the same sort of problem everytime I try to pack for an adventure. I only have so much room for stuff, but I can't make up my mind on what all I need to bring with me. There are somethings, like underwear and socks, that I always know I have to pack along, but what about all the other things I might need? I would prefer to go hiking with a 40 lb backpack, but somehow I end up with a 60 lb load or more because I just can't leave home without grabbing one more item that I could possibly use. Then I end up with 80 lbs in a bulging pack and spend the next two hours trying to determine which things I would likely need the least. It is a nightmare!

I need to start thinking like a minimalist. I got rid of a lot of stuff when the kids left for college, but then my wife and I replaced what was taken with other stuff. Most of it is convenience items. For instance, I upgraded from a hand cranked sausage grinder to an attachment for my kitchenaid so I wouldn't have to work so hard. Then I upgraded to an independent motorized version capable of grinding much more meat so it didn't take me so long. Then I needed a sausage stuffer because the motorized grinder took too long and too much effort to stuff the casings with, then I needed a meat mixer because with all the meat I was grinding it was too much for my hands to work at one time. I went from one tool that took up a little space to three pieces of equipment that fill one whole cabinet. I make so much sausage now that I give most of it away. My reasoning: if I am going to work to make sausage, why work so hard to make such a small amount at one time? Is it saving me any money? No, in fact if you amortize the cost of all the equipment and the losses I am taking on giving away all the extra sausage I am making, it is probably costing me three times more than what I would pay at the store. Of course, now I can claim I am a sausage making master, and that my sausage is superior to the store bought stuff because I know what I put in my sausage and it is all good. Do you think anybody would pay three times more for my sausage than what they would have to pay at the store? A drunk Conan would say, "Lot on your knife!" All because I thought making my own sausage would somehow be better than those Johnsonville things?

My conclusion is that sometime in the future I expect to sell all my sausage making equipment at a garage sale for pennies on the dollar, retaining the original hand grinder I started with just because some day I expect to be showing off to my grandson some novel skills that will make him think I am a god. We will then eat the stuff we made together and pronounce it good and he will have one more fond memory of his childhood, just like I did with my Grandad.

Besides, taking care of all that stuff all the time is becoming a real chore. If I don't then it rusts, or rots, or just plain goes bad somehow, and becomes worthless anyways. I never have enough time to do anything with most of it, because I have to work all the time to pay for that stuff and to get more stuff.

I feel a life lesson coming on here. Does catharsis apply to a pile of stuff?