No Mo Sto

While home for the holidays, I got rid of my last remaining link to material items – my storage unit.

Before I left on my adventure, I was pretty ruthless: getting rid of my car, all clothes and furniture. The only remaining items in storage were my artwork that I collected from around the world, some keepsakes and some tax files. And now, that’s all gone too.

Here’s my “No Mo Sto” strategy for clearing out the last of my stuff:

Sharing Beauty:

It didn’t really make sense to spend $1,000 a year on a storage unit filled with beautiful things. What a waste – of money and of beauty!

Instead, I think it’s a much better idea to share my favorite artwork with my friends. That way they can enjoy it and I can enjoy it when I visit.

So I filled my rental car trunk with luxury items: Moroccan carpets, textiles from Central America, African wood carvings – super cool stuff! And as I visited my friends, they got to peruse through the goods and claim whatever artwork struck their fancy. Fun!

Sharing Sentiments:

In combing through the keepsakes, I first decided what truly had sentimental value for me. For instance, I had stacks of love letters. These were notes from men I no longer care about – so why keep heartfelt words from relationships that went south? Toss!

Second, I decided I would choose just 2 things from those cloest to me. The two items would either symbolize their personality or our relationship. For instance:

  • Father: Dad was an honorary Samoan chief, so saved his chief’s regalia. (For more about this, read the post: I’m a Samoan Princess.) I also have an inscribed medallion from him with a secret message.
  • Mother: From mom, I kept her Slovak cookbook with a sweet inscription and her black leather trench coat from the 1970s. Tres cool!
  • Brother: A few years back, Mom made a video of our family’s Super 8 film featuring my brother and me when we were small. It’s so funny to see us at ages 2-5. Our distinct personalities haven’t changed one iota since then! (I was on a pogo stick in a lot of the footage…)
  • Grandparents: My grandparents were both nurses and met in nursing school. I saved their class year book with both their pictures.
  • Great Grandparents: From one side, I have a small silver dish with our family’s initials engraved on it. From the other, I have a small black and white photograph in a gold frame.

Finally, I decided to pass along some sentimental items to the next generation of family. For example, I gave my nephew (who is considering a career in the military), his grandfather’s naval uniform. And I gave my baby blanket to my new 10-month old niece. It gave me great joy to pass along pieces of family history.

Sharing Images:

I was still keeping photo albums of previous travels. In a final move, I unceremoniously ripped them apart and scanned the pictures so I could keep them online. Online virtual storage is a better option for me because I can save storage space, access the photos while traveling and share the photos more easily with others – a trifecta!

As it turns out, my No Mo Sto strategy is really a strategy of sharing. I like it!

Tags: , ,

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 14th, 2012 and is filed under Hearth.

Join Our Mailing List

Thanks for checking out my global living and giving adventures!

Sign up for my Weekly Update to get a free Charitable Giving Guide and more surprises straight to your inbox. Join the fun!