{"id":351,"date":"2014-07-14T06:00:58","date_gmt":"2014-07-14T10:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shinytinymansion.com\/?p=351"},"modified":"2025-09-11T14:17:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T18:17:49","slug":"the-evil-tchotchke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shinytinymansion.com\/index.php\/2014\/07\/14\/the-evil-tchotchke\/","title":{"rendered":"The Evil Tchotchke That Ate the Small House"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once upon a time<\/strong>, there was a lady who was a collector<\/em>. \u00a0She started out innocently enough, with a pair of anthropomorphic peach salt and pepper shakers. \u00a0They reminded her of her great grandmother’s house, and made her smile.\u00a0 The next time she was shopping, she saw a 1950’s tablecloth. \u00a0“This would go perfectly with my peach shakers,” she said.\u00a0So, now she was collecting anthropomorphic items as well as vintage table cloths. \u00a0Another shopping trip added vintage cookbooks to the collection. \u00a0The collecting continued until the lady couldn’t stand having\u00a0all of the stuff everywhere and whittled her collection down to the\u00a0items she REALLY loved and got rid of the rest. \u00a0The lady was happy with these items and never went collecting again.<\/p>\n

Collections<\/strong>…many of us have them, and it is often very difficult to get rid of them when you move to a small house. \u00a0Although we have never lived in a large place, I have always had some type of collection. \u00a0Each collection started out with one small item and grew to an overwhelming size. \u00a0Once they\u00a0got to this point, I\u00a0needed a display or shelves to put them on. \u00a0 This is not very conducive to small living, and I’m very aware of that. \u00a0Collections can make a space feel crowded and claustrophobic, but if you\u00a0manage them, they can add whimsy to your home but not take over. \u00a0I’m somewhere in the middle of these two points, but the more I have to clean, the more I want to eliminate.<\/p>\n

I have been getting some comments from EEK\u00a0(Elimination of Everything Klan)<\/strong>~<\/strong> Ron interjects “or the VOCG (Void of Color Group) or VOSPO (Vacuum of Spatial Personality Organization)~<\/em> <\/span>just kidding there are\u00a0no such groups~but there are some\u00a0who have commented on social media that they\u00a0can’t believe that I have so much stuff or clutter. \u00a0I’m not going to defend my possessions (I mean–come on–look at those peachy faces up there, and tell me you did not smile!) \u00a0I am still in the process of narrowing down my collections, and I will do some of that on this blog so that those of you collectors who want to start downsizing can maybe get a few tips. \u00a0I do not\u00a0believe you need to get rid of everything and have a sterile and stark existence devoid of personality, but as some on social media kindly added – “to each her\u00a0own!” ; )<\/p>\n

Collecting can be exciting at first<\/strong> – to make those serendipitous finds at a flea market or second hand store can be a high, a real rush. It was like a treasure hunt for me; but as I collected more and more, it became a burden. \u00a0That is when the fun stops, and you need to find another collection, Ron says “NO!”<\/em> or you need to realize that collections aren’t bringing you happiness. \u00a0Now, don’t get me wrong; I believe we need fun and color in our lives. However, collections can take over and actually cause disharmony instead of the original intention of creating happiness.<\/p>\n

If you have a collection, don’t get rid of it<\/strong>, just look to see what you can eliminate to make your collections more manageable. It’s not about changing your life completely; it’s about making your small space reflect you and your personality, within the space that you have. After all, no one is getting my Mary collection; it’s divine! ; )<\/p>\n

Ron interjects “Sue’s Mary collection has nothing to do with religion – they are more a symbol of calming and peace for her – I like them too!<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Collections can be overwhelming!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","h5ap_radio_sources":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[41,50,67,72,89,91],"class_list":["post-351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-living-small","tag-collections","tag-downsizing","tag-living-small","tag-minimizing","tag-simplifying","tag-small-house"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/shinytinymansion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Storybook-Cottage-Cupboards-1.jpg?fit=850%2C567&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shinytinymansion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shinytinymansion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shinytinymansion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shinytinymansion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shinytinymansion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/shinytinymansion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2535,"href":"https:\/\/shinytinymansion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351\/revisions\/2535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shinytinymansion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shinytinymansion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shinytinymansion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shinytinymansion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}