After we had returned from a trip to Cuba several years ago, Louis thought of one thing we hadn’t noticed anywhere in that country: self-storage centers. That’s because in U.S.-embargoed Cuba everything has to be re-used and re-used again. There isn’t enough excess to have to worry about where to store it.

Not so in the U.S., where there is a booming business in places to store our excess stuff, not to mention all the garage sales, yard sales, and classified ads prompted by our overflowing closets, attics, and basements. What is it about our culture that leads us down this path of collecting and hoarding? Is it a throw-back to the Great Depression, when people held on to things because they were uncertain of the future?

Quaker Earthcare Witness has a pamphlet, Freeing Ourselves from Possessions. And guess what! --It is the one that is picked up the most often from QEW literature tables! It seems even Friends are troubled about having too much stuff, particularly in terms of the effect it can have on us spiritually.

So what might we do differently to free ourselves from possessions?

First, we have to understand our relationship to our belongings. How did they come to us? Were they gifts that we would feel guilty getting rid of? Were they family items that have some sentimental value? Is it really something that we are valuing or using currently? Is there someone in the younger generation who would likely want or need it? After we have identified those possessions that have some meaning or function, we can look at the rest of the stuff we have that seems to be just gathering dust. Would we be making better use of the world’s resources by sharing it, selling it, or even giving it away?

One thing we try to do is to share tools and supplies. In our close-knit neighborhood, we often lend each other garden and carpentry tools. We have a utility trailer and extension ladder that others are free to use when they have special projects. We share freezer space with one neighbor, and another neighbor has a “free” shelf in their entryway filled with books and other no-longer-needed items that visitors are encourage to take away. We are one of five households who share expenses for a neighborhood snow plow, and we have been talking recently about buying shares in a neighborhood pickup truck.

When we do purchase things, we usually try to first to find them at yard sales or thrift stores. One of our downfalls is books. Most often we shop at second-hand book stores, where they take back the books we have read and give us credit to purchase more. But we still tend to hold on to a fair amount of them, so now the many bookshelves in our home are chock full. Recently we made a commitment to use our local library more often. If they don’t have a book we’re looking for, we can usually get it on interlibrary loan.

If we must purchase something new, we look for good quality items that will last a long time and that we can share with our neighbors. When we are finished with something, we donate it to the thrift store, which is another way to share it.

Louis loves the challenge of making something, fixing something, or rescuing thrown-away items. This requires a collection of assorted scavenged tools, parts, and materials in the basement and outbuildings, ready for emergent projects. We sometimes disagree about what is the right balance of such things to keep on hand. Ruah likes things nice and tidy and clear, where Louis is more tolerant of things that are lying around that haven’t found a use or final storage place yet. Living resourcefully in the country also requires more stored stuff than urban and suburban households typically need, such as canning supplies and a variety of clothes and shoes for different activities and weather conditions.

In our commitment to live more frugally, we try to repair or use up something before throwing it away. (Our last car had about 300,000 miles on it before it would no longer pass inspection and we had to scrap it!). We do some of our own car and bicycle maintenance, but they are becoming more complex and often require a professional hand.

Best of all, we stay out of the malls and places like that which are so enticing with all their goods. We don’t watch commercial television, which dampens other buying impulses.

Do we feel deprived with our used books, clothes, and furniture? Not a bit. As Henry David Thoreau put it, "He is richest whose pleasures are cheapest." •