Stuff

 Last night I was channel surfing and came across a show which I think was called Hoarders.  As I continued to click I came across another show which was called Hoarders - Buried Alive.  This one I have seen before.  Sometimes I like to watch it as it gives me the urge to de-clutter, but at other times I find it entirely too sad to watch.  Last night I continued surfing right on by and finally settled on American Pickers.

 Recently I have been asked by a few different people if I watch this show.  Until now I've had to admit that I never have, so I thought I'd see what it was all about.

In last night's episode the hosts visited two different people who had barns full of stuff.  Many, many years of stuff.  One lady said that her children called it her "creeping crud" and they hoped it was gone before she was.  She giggled as she told this story.

 

 The next barn full of stuff belonged to a man who had stuff in there that went all the way back to his great grandfather... or was it his grandfather?  Either way it was a lot of stuff.  A lot of old stuff with some interesting history that went along with it.  I must admit I enjoyed learning the history behind some of this stuff and I also enjoyed watching the hosts strike up the deals with the owner's of the stuff.  

 The lady with the "creeping crud" stated that she had probably been collecting since 1968.  As she opened her second barn door (which was filled to the rafters), she said when she was buying one or two things a week it didn't seem like that much.

 

This made me think about my own habit of stopping into the thrift shop on a fairly regular basis.  In fact, my sister-in-law and I both enjoy getting together to visit the thrift shops followed by going out to lunch and, of course, preceded by a thorough hand washing. ;-).

We are pretty selective about what we buy.  I tend to go for the vintage gardeny type things and the vintage Christmasy things and, oh yes, vintage children's books and, of course if I see vintage linens....

Occasionally we wonder if maybe we really do have hoarding tendencies.     I laugh out loud when my sister-in-law wonders about this as I have never been in a more clean and organized home than hers.  A place for everything and everything in it's place.

 As for my own home, I try to work my thrifty finds into some type of order and periodically haul what I no longer want back to the thrift shop.  Green living at it's best, IMHO.  Keeping things out of the landfill and trying my best not to amass my own barn full of "creeping crud".  Someday the kids will thank me.