Path to Minimalism

Let me start by saying, I am not a hoarder.  Ben will occasionally tease me about being a hoarder or pack rat, but I know it's all in good fun.  I do, however, tend to keep things that have long since lost their usefulness.  I don't think that I'm really any worse off than any other person who moves a lot.  I've never been one of those amazing people who can unpack everything in their household in less than two weeks and have all the boxes and trash out the door right afterwards.  We tend to unpack what we need immediately, then work our way from there, and inevitably, lots of things stay in their boxes because we start getting back into daily life without any time left for unpacking.  As you can see, with this being our M.O., we usually end up with lots of unpacked boxes that just follow us to our next location.  It's a vicious cycle--one that I'm yearning to break.

Before we left Okinawa, Japan, we had an entire room full of boxes stacked to the ceiling.  It was so packed that Ben only had a small aisle to walk to get from one side of the room to the other.  In our defense, we had a toddler and a baby on the way, so we had kept ALL the baby stuff we had from baby #1 for baby #2.  By the time we left Okinawa, only about a third of the room still had boxes.  For me, that was an accomplishment!!

Late last year, after I started reading about minimalism, I decided I was finished with all the crap we had in our house!  Most of it was unused and to be honest, if those things had disappeared, I probably wouldn't have been able to tell you what was gone.  We donated a large tv, two school desks, a computer desk, a box spring, a toddler bed, and THIRTEEN large boxes of...crap!  

Minimalism is a concept that's defined differently by each individual who decides to live this lifestyle.  It can involve minimizing your possessions, your relationships, your social media, whatever it is you feel needs to be more meaningful.  Ultimately, though, people minimize in order to gain back time and/or money.  They start living intentional lives.  

Minimalism to me means freedom.  The less possessions I have, the smaller space I can live in (downsize a house), the less time I spend cleaning/sorting and the more time I have for what I really want to do--like spending time with my family and traveling.  Also, the less stuff I buy/smaller living space I have, the more money I save that will allow me to do what I want.  I keep my time (which once it's gone, it's gone) and my money...it's a win-win!

So far this year we've filled 5 or 6 boxes worth of stuff for donations and I intend to fill many more before the year ends.  Don't get me wrong, this is not easy.  First, the simple fact that many of us are somehow emotionally attached to our stuff--whether it's because it actually brings out emotion in us due to who we acquired it from or how we acquired it, or because we've emotionally attached ourselves to it because perhaps we spent so much money on it and we just can't see 'giving it away.'  HEY! Crap happens, and sometimes we just need to admit that we made a bad purchase or purchases, get over it, and donate the item(s).  I'm a huge purse person, and while I don't splurge on those $300 purses, some of my purses are still pricey.  I sat on my bed for about 30 minutes one day just staring at my purses, trying to convince myself that I would use them...that I could still keep them.  In the end, I had to just admit to myself that half of those purses I had only used once and they were just taking up space in my house and keeping me from accomplishing my goal towards freedom.  I threw them in the donation box and BAM!  Instant relief!!  I made the decision, I let go, and that was that.  

Sometimes, all it takes is letting go.  

By the way, does anyone else hear Elsa in the background?  ;)