Hold the stuff.

There is absolutely nothing about living off the roads mostly traveled that keeps you from amassing stuff. That is, just because the options for walking by and purchasing things are fewer out here than, say, if you lived in downtown Chicago or Park Slope or even in the East Village of Des Moines, it just isn't true that country folk acquire or collect or hold on to less things. Ahem.

Sometimes, the mess is contained and, ok, hardly an eyesore. (Really, City Farm Girl!)

And others ... well, who doesn't appreciate a serious barn sale?

I don't know if wider, less populated spaces seem to excuse amassings of stuff more, or if out in the woods--with less visual noise to compete with it--an abundance of things just isn't as oppressive as it is, say, in a 500-sq-ft apartment in a major metropolis. (The "houses out here are bigger" argument just doesn't sell me; I've lived in apartments larger than my home here in the woods.)

All of this stuff-thinking stems from this incredible documentary video I watched yesterday (confession: while cleaning my milk glass compote collection) that absolutely warrants 21 minutes of your time, oh, now: