Depth of Inventory

One of the roles I've sort of slipped into is the inventory manager of our home. I usually stop and shop while Max is at Boychoir, so I am usually the one who knows how much food we have on hand. What meat is in the freezer. Where the eggs are that we bought 2 months ago so we can boil them (because old eggs, when boiled, peel like a frozen Hershey's Kiss).

I note how certain types of cereal move in and out of popularity. There was a run on the Honeynut Cheerios for a few weeks, but now no one is eating them. Was a time that our youngest went through a box of cinnamon toasty squares every few days, but now she just makes regular out-of-bread toast.

I've realized I keep inventory of more than just food. A few weeks ago, our microwave stopped working abruptly. Have you ever looked at having your microwave fixed? Ludicrous! But luckily, I had a spare in the garage. I actually have two spares in the garage. One is our nice microwave that we brought here when we moved, but one of the kids broke the glass turntable. We've been making do with the built-in the last two years. Until the aforementioned abruptness. So I've been watching freecycle, jumping on every old microwave, hoping to find a matching piece of glass. No luck so far, but did luck into the second spare.

We have a spare washing machine. It's older than the one we use. We had a second spare washing machine, but some friends had their's break, so Jenni gave it away. We were glad to share our bounty of spares.

Spare TV (now; when our TV broke at Christmas, we got two replacements).

We used to have two or three spare beds, but we've been slowly giving those away. Now, we have half a dozen extra headboards, but those are an art project, so we just find a space to store them.

Where does inventory, storage, spares stop, and junk start? Where does it become clutter?

Surely if it gets in the way, that's one indicator of clutter.

If the cost (in terms of labor, space, effort, especially time) of keeping it is greater than the cost of replacing it, that's a big clue. It took me exactly one week to replace our TV. So that makes me think it's dumb to keep another one around as a spare.

The washing machine, though, that took two months to find. And if ours dies, we would be at a crisis situation (have you ever run completely out of underpants? That's a crisis, I don't care how old you are!) in less than seven days.

I have things I have never used. A working dehumidifier, unused in 8 years. A power washer, given to me by my Dad the last time he got a new one. I've had it so long, his new one is now getting thrown away, and he may take back his/my old one. Never used.

Old lumber. I tell myself I'm saving it for the backyard campfire pit. We have two, maybe three fires a year. I think I have enough wood right now for at least 7 fires. Yeah, some of it needs to go.

I finally got rid of part of my collection of old computer monitors. It's a pain to have a monitor go bad, but I realized the inventory was too deep when I had enough to replace every unit in the house. Twice. The last time I had a monitor go bad was 9 years ago. I think I could get rid of all but one and be safe.

Stuff is comforting when you need it. But stressful when it's in your way. Doubly stressful when it is in the way of other people. How awful is it to go and look for something you stored, but someone else moved it? Used it? Threw it out years ago, why on earth did you think it was still in the house?

Today, I think I'm going to get rid of that extra TV. Some of that wood. One or two more of those old monitors. Take the power washer over to Dad's.