Life defining stuff and clutter

I am torn between wanting to keep stuff in case it could be useful in the future, (plus not wanting it to end up in land-fill), and wanting to be as junk free as possible, so that I have to spend less time looking for and after 'stuff'. 

The more stuff you have the more time it takes to look after it, and the more it costs you e.g. two cars means twice the road tax, insurance and repair bills.  If you have small children it can also mean doubling up on car seats, or regular lifting, transferring and fitting of seats in already time-pressed situations.

With modern technology enabling photos, books and movies to be stored electronically, I am drawn to the idea of being able to live with very little clutter.  The time and effort required to reach a clutter-free life is another story though.  I then think of my children and realise that being a bit of a hoarder does has advantages such as being able to produce that large piece of blue plastic for an imaginary swimming class to try out the new goggles, or easily finding old boxes and foil to make a pasta robot as seen on the TV.

As a student I worked shifts in a nursing home, first in the kitchen then as a carer.  I remember the matron, who didn't often get visibly attached to residents, being quite tearful when clearing a room out from a lady who had died, without family to clear the room out for her.  She was upset by how little there was left to show for such a long life.  Do our material posessions really reflect the sort of life we have led? 

I am excited and a little apprehensive about the idea that my children, potential grand-children and many future generations will be able to know about me thanks to the digital media age.  Who knows, they may even read these words. They will be able to see who I was (or who I projected myself to be on the internet), what I looked like, how I talked and moved, what I cared about, how I interacted with others.  They will be able to see what characteristics of mine they have inherited and more scarily, what I did or didn't do to make our world a better place for them.

Vegetable growing

I get a real sense of wellbeing from attempting to grow fruit and vegetables.  There is something wonderful about being in the fresh air, working, watching, hoping and then finally tasting what you have helped grow.  It helps me appreciate the time, effort and expertise that goes into the production and supply of our food.  We're still very much beginners at growing.  We started with a few pots containing strawberries, tomatos and blueberry bushes 3 years ago and are very slowly building up. 

Time is the main prohibiting factor, along with the expense of turning a concrete retangle into my little paradise.  I'd always thought that growing your own was cheaper than buying from the supermarket until a conversation with a friend made me realise that it is actually quite an outlay if you have to buy soil, wood for raised beds, water butts, seeds, not to mention tools. It can also be quite emotional if you've spent hours and days lovingly tending seedlings to have them end up as a snack for a herd of hungry slugs.

Over time the costs should go down, our level of knowledge should increase and our crop output go up.  But rather than measure our success by how much we have managed to grow to eat, I want to measure it by how much happiness and satisfaction the whole growing experience has given us.  However, for me, there is an even more important reason for having our own little vegetable plot than saving money or enabling me to pick the tastiest, freshest cherry tomato I've ever eaten.  The reason to do it is to show my daughters the miracle of nature and hope they are as amazed and in awe of it as me.