My wife & I have been in our current house for 16 years. We were in our previous house for 10. This is the longest either of us have lived in any house. WE'VE GOT TOO MUCH JUNK.

A box here, and a box there, a box of my memories, her memories, a box of stuff that "has to stay in the family" from my parents, old homeschool projects, etc., etc. Add prepping with "this may come in handy some day...", "I need this in case ...." and the basement's got too much stuff (not hoarder levels).

I've also realized that a lot of those older memories that seemed so precious when I was a young adult, have lost some, or most, of their sentimentality as I'm now old enough to join AARP.

With many of the natural disasters happening around the country and world, I started wondering just what would I HAVE to keep with me, and what is sentimental baggage? I look at what my great-grandparents and their ancestors had, and there really wasn't that much. My grandparents, while far from wealthy, were the first generations to really have any means with which to accumulate stuff. There are reports of many people who lost houses to wildfires that were actually grateful because they didn't have to go thru sorting and disposing of "valuables".

Earlier this year, I heard someone talking about de-cluttering by asking yourself "Do I use it? Do I love it? Would I buy it again". I added a few notes, "Prepper / Packrat / Hoarder? Legitimate Heirloom?" and then printed it and posted it in my basement to force me to really look at WHY I was keeping things. Was I keeping it for legitimate prepping needs? Was I keeping it just because I don't want to get rid of it, "there must be a use for it"? or was I becoming a hoarder and just not wanting to dispose of it because ...? If something happened to me, would my wife & kids even give it a second thought before throwing it out?

American (western civilization) affluence has given us the luxury of sentimentality and the means to indulge.

Time for me to stop preaching (to myself), and get cleaning.