(question): stuff + all the cake stands

If Anthropologie had a cake-stand-of-the-month-club, I’d be the first to sign up.

Here’s another question I received lately when I asked for post ideas for this month: What items do you have too much of, and what do you wish you had more of? This question was framed around the topic of “stuff” that I touch on a lot in my posts – my desire to have less of it, and to think long and hard about what I do have and what I might purchase in the future. It probably could even venture into the area of sentimentality which is something I grapple with a lot when thinking about this subject.

But! Since this post could easily veer off into some sort of manifesto, but I’m determined not to let it! Bullet points might help.

• I wish I had more… cake stands. I seriously love cake stands. I want all the cake stands. The only thing keeping me from having all of them is the lack of a place to store them. I currently store them on my library shelves – they hold up stacks of books until called to action. I saw one on Sunday at Anthropologie and it took every single impulse control technique I have in my tool belt not to purchase it. (I can’t even find an image online of it – it had a painted scene reminiscent of Moby Dick on it. Why do I even need that???) I restrain myself with the thought that I will build in lovely storage space for my soon-to-be-collection of cake stands in my new kitchen. Until then, I can’t indulge. Closely related: more cookbooks.
• I wish we had less… jackets and shoes. And this is coming from someone who probably has fewer shoes than most American professional women. And fewer jackets, too. I just find the storage of them to be slightly annoying, and the acquisition of them to be costly and time-consuming. In a magical world we’d all have two of each and that’s it. We’re not far off that, but it still feels like too much.
• I wish I had more… hmmm, I’m sort of stuck. Pass.
• I wish we had less… stuff in our basement. I rarely go down there – sometimes I might go several months between visits (I’m not exaggerating), but when I do go I feel itchy because there is a lot of stuff in there. M keeps it neat and organized, and a good deal of it is related to house projects, but we don’t need a lot of it, and once it’s down there it’s sort of dead to me anyway. But who has the time and energy to do something about it? Not me. Closely related: my dining room table. It’s full of stuff our parents keep bringing us. Why?! Because they are saying “We wish we had less… of our kids’ stuff.”
• I wish I had more… I soooo want to say “time” but that’s not allowed in this conversation. So I’ll say “finished projects”, but I realizing that’s bending the rules quite a bit too. And it leads into…
• I wish I had less… unfinished projects. They reside in neat piles in places, mocking me. Once the addition project is drawn and out to bid and we’re holed up in a portion of house, I’d love to tackle some of those things. Right now, when I have time, I feel like I should be devoting it to the project to keep things moving. But I’m completely craving a good dresser purge or closet cleanout. And some creative time, finishing projects for myself vs. all the ones I do for other people / events.
• I wish I had more… nothing, really. I’d honestly call myself content. There are real, tangible things that I’d like that relate to the house + kitchen, but I feel like we are addressing those with this addition project. But as far as “things” go, I’m content.

Cake stands are lovely, and the thought of entertaining and cooking even more at home are so, so appealing, but really, I’m good. Shut the door on the basement kind of good.