The things you own...

Today I find myself dreading the spring.
It isnt that i dont like the better weather, or that I dont want to mow the lawn.
Here in Wisconsin, we enjoy the sort of winters that encourage a person to hibernate. I have spent the better part of this winter doing a lot of resting, relaxing, and being warm indoors. Although I'm far from a lazy person, I found myself looking around my home this morning with a feeling of dread toward the inevitable spring cleaning that is certain to be headed my way.
Oddly enough, spring cleaning is not natural, we create it. One of my favorite quotes of all time is that "the things you own will end up owning you" and was said in the movie "Fight Club." This is the essence of spring cleaning. My yard will certainly be littered with all of the sort of stuff that spends the winter buried in the snow. There will be bits of paper blown by the winds, sand and salt to rake up off of the curb, grass to plant, rake, thatch, and mow.
And then there are the toys... The boat will need to be brought out of the barn, cleaned, scrubbed, de-winterized, etc. the same goes for the hot rod, the four wheelers, etc.

The most interesting thing about all of the stuff that you own is that it is rarely purchased for yourself. If it was just me, I think that it is likely that I would not own a home, and a lot of the other things wouldn't exist either. We have a small four wheeler for turtle, only because he was to the point of dangerous on the powerwheels. This led to an adult size one for myself to follow him on. The boat came along out of every dad's desire to take the kids fishing. As a sort-of mechanic, I could get by with a much older truck, but fear of breakdown puts two reasonably new ones in the driveway. All of these things require maintenance, and cost money.

Hence the quote.
If a person didn't have all of this stuff, it would seem that your stress level would be greatly reduced. My household would not require as much money to run. My attention would not be divided between so many things. you get the idea.