Who needs a travel alarm clock when she has a smart phone? Who needs a Rolodex, quaint little purse-sized address book, or the five-pound Yellow Pages when everyone who’s anyone can be Googled? Who needs two-way radios when everyone and his brother have a cell phone?

These are just some of the thoughts rattling around my head as I look to simplify my life. Bulletin: I’m no early adopter of virtually anything. I’m not a twenty-something. I do love stuff. I hang onto things because they cost good money and someday I may need/use it again. Or so I hope.

And yet. I find myself thinking more and more like my minimalist son who gets rid of stuff often, quickly, dispassionately and with zero sentimentality.

And yet. There are relapses in my behavior. My Cobra two-way radios got nary a sniff at our recent garage sale, which, incidentally, we’re ?holding over? until the town-wide one in early June. I’m planning to pull that piece of merchandise from the table and use them as top quality walkie-talkies when Grady comes to the farm. Guaranteed they’ll work better than the toy Mater and Lightning McQueen ones I picked up at someone else’s g-sale. What techno-savvy little boy wouldn’t want to try those out in the back forty?

you’d think that in this part of rural Alberta, with an aging population, there would still be people who use a land line telephone and want the convenience of several cordless ones to scatter (and lose) around the house. No takers.

Or what about the oh, so lovely cassette tape recorder? Three ring zippered Mead binders? Carving board with scary metal prongs to keep that Christmas turkey from slip- sliding away? B-rate DVD movies? Five piece tapestry Oscar de la Renta luggage set including garment bag?

Let me guess: If you want to tape something you get both sound and visuals if you use your phone? Kids don’t use lined refill sheets anymore because everything is digital? Turkey, what turkey?we’re planning to be in Mexico, or Phoenix, or parts unknown? Okay, I never should have bought those lousy movies in the first place; even big name stars make stinkers sometimes. we’re all getting too old, weak, and in a hurry to carry luggage. No wheels? No way. And, besides, what would the conveyor belts and Air Canada baggage tossers do to the lovely fabric? We need indestructible space age stuff these days.

That’s also why my sister put her 1980s era World Book Encyclopedia Yearbooks into the free box. I haven’t checked but I’d bet my last dollar they’re still there. Unlike the army of people who used to go door to door (!) selling the twenty-five volume sets to families who wanted to ensure their kids would grow up smart.

Some days It’s both a bit scary and sad how things have changed. Other days we try to parlay the nostalgic into cold hard cash, from where I sit.

Hazel Anaka’s first novel is Lucky Dog. Visit her website for more information or follow her on Twitter @anakawrites..

Chosen from student nominations, I picked this article as the best of FWIS because of how it connects us to the personal of Hazel’s life, while asking questions that can make us expand our view of our own.