No thank you ... please?

I have a lot of stuff.  It is everywhere.  In piles, stacked in chairs, tucked into baskets.  At one time it was good to tuck things into baskets - it made for my new house to look lived in and cozy, but that was ten years ago.  My drawers are overflowing, my closets have begun to revolt and throw stuff onto the floor below.  Sometimes anxiety takes me over to the point that my dear, well-intentioned husband gets abused for leaving wayward papers on the counter.  It's just enough to throw me right over the edge of sanity, into the deep and murky pool of insanity.  A place where a happy and smiley girl like me becomes quite evil. 

It could happen.

I am not a hoarder, but I do watch the show and it makes me itch ... it makes me panic.  Before I know it, before the end of the show, I practically run to some crowded corner of the house - a closet, under a bed, a drawer and I start throwing the contents away.

I think we are all a little overwhelmed by all of our "stuff."  Our brains are sitting on "Go!" with to-do lists, our in-boxes are overflowing with action items, our text message memory is full, Facebook is constantly calling, the endless papers that come home from school (fundraisers, forms to complete, graded worksheets, "art" that we form an emotional attachment to) and all of it on the counter.  What about the things that get gifted or given to us by family members and friends?  Every now and then, I will tuck one of these things under my bed to re-gift to a person who might enjoy that sort of thing.  Guilt - it gives me guilt. 

And so, I've come up the following phrases and I have practiced them so that I sound sure of myself, here goes...

"Thanks for thinking of me, but I have plenty..."

or

"I don't really need it, but maybe you could find someone else who could use it and love it."

This is hard and I am not very good at it, but I am trying.  Downsizing has to happen in our three bedroom home of ten years. 

My next step is stop the magazines from appearing in my mailbox, but that would be ... harsh.  Maybe I will save that one for another day!