That’s an old saying. I read it in a book when I was a kid, and my mother used to say it. Enough is as good as a feast. If you have enough, having more than enough is kind of a waste is the prevailing wisdom of previous generations. Then the 1970’s hit and it was all about me. The 1980’s were all about more more more. Our culture has become more and more disposable which also leads to more and more.
A couple of years ago I started reading on the subject of minimalism and less is more. I’m seeing friends who, as we get older, are downsizing. I’m reading articles that say “your kids don’t want all your crap after you die” and I’m thinking I don’t even have kids so I’m sure the world doesn’t want all my crap after I die.
For those who don’t know, I’m building my dream home and getting ready to move. My dream home is smaller than the house I live in now. It’s enough. It’s not over the top, but it’s enough. I’m now trying to sort through all the stuff in my current house so that I only move what I really use and need, and this has really been an interesting experience.
I am the child of depression-era parents. The phrase “you might need that someday” was used a lot around our house, as a reason to hold on to all manner of things. I remember my dad getting very annoyed when cereal boxes started to use a plastic liner instead of waxed paper, because he saved the waxed paper to use later, and the plastic wasn’t useable. When I moved out on my own after college, I took EVERYTHING with me, because my parents didn’t want my stuff at the house, they had enough stuff of their own.
Thirty years on and I don’t even know how many moves later, and I am finally ready to jettison the overload so I just move enough. I will never downsize to the point of living in a tiny home, I mean I have a long arm sewing machine that has a foot print of 4’x14′ just for that, but I would like to fit comfortably into the new house, be able to find things and more importantly, be able to put everything away. What a concept.
It has been interesting looking at how many clothes are ‘enough’. Shoes is a whole other discussion. I have a shoe problem. I also am learning I have a tote bag problem. Then there’s the fabric stash. Oh my land, the fabric stash. I’m not going to get all this culled out for this move, I’m realizing that now, but I’m making good headway. All the stuff in the master closet now fits in the master closet. The dresser drawers in the bedroom actually close without supreme physical effort. Thanks to the help of a good friend, I can find things in the kitchen cabinets that I actually use. It’s rather freeing to open a cupboard and be able to see what I have, rather than having to treat it like Fibber McGee’s closet and brace for the tsunami of crap falling out when I open a door.
Enough is an interesting thing when applied to fabric and quilting. What really is enough? Having a stash has been really useful more times than I can tell. I like really scrappy quilts, and having a stash supports that very well. But how much is enough and how much is too much. Right now I think I still have too much. I am packing as I go through things and there have been a number of “oh hey! I didn’t know I had a piece of that” moments. Too many of those moments. It’s getting to where I need to do more packing now that sorting, which means I will need to pick this up on the other end, during the unpacking. Heavy sigh. I wish I could just snap my fingers and it would be all done. Heck I’d like to snap my fingers and know how much enough really is. I do know I’m very blessed and I’m pretty sure I still have a Feast of Fabric, but I’m working towards enough.
