I Need Less Stuff… Or Fewer Hobbies

Don't get me wrong. My family is a busy one and I don't mind that. We take part in activities both as a family and as individuals. At this point, we all have things we like to do and we are fortunate enough to be able to do them. But sometimes the stuff that makes doing these activities possible gets to me. It just accumulates and I'm convinced that at some point my poor house and garage are going to just explode at the seams and vomit this stuff all over my yard.

'But it can't be that bad', I can hear you say. Really. Lets look at just a couple of our activities. My bride and children like to cross country ski. So in regards to that we have ski boots (in various sizes and styles), skis, poles, wax for the skis and little tools for spreading it and smoothing it and clothing for skiing. I, on the other hand, like to snow shoe, so I have snow shoes (and the rest of the family does too) and poles for that, as well as clothing for snow shoeing. That's not the worst of it though. At least these items get used on a fairly regular basis during the season (assuming we have more snow than we do right now on average). Oh, did I mention that we also have skates that rarely get used but unfortunately don't disappear when not in use? That's not even taking into account the guitars, fiddle, drum, piano keyboard, French horn, canoe, paddles, PFDs, exercise equipment, ball gloves, balls and the thousand other items that it takes to keep these things in working order that seem to find their way into the house and garage.

Let's move on to mountain biking. I love this sport. It combines skill, speed and a slight element of danger with the outdoors. I also got a new bike recently so that's good too. But the stuff involved with maintaining a fleet of bicycles is unreal. Spread out between my basement and garage are bicycles, various extra tires and tubes, tools, spare parts, extra pedals, seats, cables and rims. The worst thing about it is that all of it is necessary because it only takes one breakdown on a Saturday evening to put an end to your biking for the weekend if you don't happen to have an extra thingamajig, and the bike shop is closed. When I say that I have a bare bones operation in regards to out bikes, I mean bare bones. I am the first to head out to the bike shop for repairs. Usually it is much easier for them to do things than it is for me. They're also faster. I have just enough to get me out of a bind if need be. But that's still a lot of stuff.

Then there is archery. Aside from bows and arrows there is specific tool kit for this sport. There are things in this area that are used for nothing else and have no other use than to keep the arrows flying. Believe me when I say there is nothing better for putting feathers on arrows than a fletching jig. It is fantastic. Does that job incredibly well. But it has no other use. Granted, because my daughter is getting really good I use it a couple of times a month during archery season (she shoots the feathers off her arrows sometimes) but it still takes up space. Then there are the feathers, arm guards, finger slings, and strings and bow squares and…

I guess I shouldn't complain. From the stories on the news lately about the health of Canadians, I think my family is doing o.k. But the stuff. Ugh! I guess it could be worse -- my kids could play hockey.