sweeping out clutter

For years I wanted to move to a smaller house than the one we lived in.  To prepare for my future move, every summer, over those years, I went through the house and got rid of things that weren't being used.  The process accelerated after our sons moved out.  I tried to give most to Freecycle people, but I have to admit a lot ended up at the dump, because no one wanted it. Each time I went through, I thought I was done.  But when I went back later, there was more.

Now we're in the smaller house, and I have stuff that I don't have room for, and again, it is unnecessary stuff that somehow survived the prior purges. I made a rule a year ago, that when we acquire something, something else must be jettisoned. And yet, there is still too much stuff. I keep putting it in the garage, and the Freecyclers keep coming and taking it (thank G-d).

I know what to do, and have been doing it, but can't quite figure out why it doesn't end. I'm starting to have bad dreams about it, dreams similar to images I saw once on a show called "Affluenza" about our love affair with stuff, and what happens to the stuff.  There were images of vast hinterlands of discarded electronics, couches, carpets.  Birds tangled up in netting and wire.  Factories that make the stuff discharging effluents into bodies of water. I have seen images of animals with their necks caught in 6-pack rings.

Clearly, this is not just about making more space in my house.  This is about a moral imperative, to stop generating trash. I'm on the right path, but I don't think I have the practice down yet.