The Tipping Point

Although the “tipping point” can mean several things, for me it is the point at which one stops acquiring new possessions and starts getting rid of them. Is it age? A new phase of life perhaps? Or is it simply the realization that experiences and relationships are far more meaningful than material things.

Most Americans—and especially Baby Boomers, who grew up in the prosperity of the 1950s—love to shop. In a Wall Street Journal article, Missy Sullivan writes, “Filling their homes…comes naturally to baby boomers. Born into the giddy post-war climate of conspicuous consumption and easy credit, they’re a generation…regularly leaving offerings at the altar of retail.” So shopping is a ritual that comes naturally. We have all done recreational shopping, feel-better shopping, and girlfriend-bonding shopping. And now, we have the stuff to prove it!

One day we wake up and our houses are full to overflowing. The cellar holds our overflow. In all fairness, our cellar is an equal tribute to the many hobbies and ventures of both my husband and me. It is also a repository of our daughter’s Pound Puppies, My Little Ponies, and American Girl dolls. Our son is innocent. In a few months when our daughter and her family move into a home with a cellar, some boxes will start migrating her way. I was holding the line on my stuff pretty well until the arrival of a grandchild. Now the toy section of the cellar is growing again.

Twenty-six years in the same house are not conducive to purging. Inertia is difficult to overcome. The tipping point may be reached because of a life change—a divorce, a move, a newly acquired vacation home. Active adult, over 55 communities are popular in our area with Boomers. Many have sold their houses and down-sized to a smaller home with no cellar. And, let’s face it, a good old-fashioned flooded basement—as many have had in our area this fall—is as good a method as any!

My parents handled downsizing in their own unique way. When we dragged them reluctantly into assisted living 6 blocks from their home, they did nothing. My brother moved the small amount of furniture and the clothes they needed. The rest of the house remained exactly as it had been for the last 54 years (in case they wanted to go back). Eventually our father passed away, and our mother remained in the dementia unit. My two brothers and I and our spouses then spent a fun-filled week emptying the house and getting it ready to sell. Needless to say, my parents had thrown nothing away in decades, so it was a gargantuan job.

My tipping point has been reached. Part of the incentive was the huge task of emptying my parents’ home. Another incentive is having a relatively clutter-free condo in Florida. Life is easier without a lot of useless crap around. My new rules are as follows: buy No books, NO holiday decorations, NO wall hangings, NO lawn ornaments, and NO tchotchkes!

Goodwill is my depository for all things we no longer need. I suppose there are smarter ways to dispose of the ephemera of our lives: eBay, Craig’s List, yard sales, but are they really worth the effort?

Boomers, what are you getting rid of? How are you doing it?