I’ve suddenly become painfully aware: I’ve missed a lot of life because of my stuff.
This week has been one of snow days for my family. My teacher husband, Matt, and my school-aged girls have all been home, and it has been wonderful. I’ve caught up on laundry for the first time in literally years and the sink is empty, too, a phenomenon I don’t remember experiencing in a while (if ever). And today, we delved into organizing and purging toys and other household items.
Oy.
I told Matt I couldn’t deal with the toy situation any longer because I’m suffering from decision fatigue (which I had to convince him was a real thing). He started sorting and quickly filled two large totes with items to discard, then decided he’d had enough.
And the basement, where all things go that I don’t want to deal with in our living and sleeping spots, is still overflowing with stuff.
This feels unbelievable sometimes, because this summer, I hosted or took part in three garage sales and sold boxes and boxes of items. I’ve sold a few dozen items on ebay recently and have donated even more. When my sister moved internationally this fall, I helped her sell her items and also delivered tons of my own to local buyers. So where did all the stuff I don’t even want come from?
Sometimes I’m really not sure, but I do know this: I like clean lines, neat and bright spaces, no clutter. I don’t like piles of magazines, laundry, dishes, toys, or paperwork. I particularly don’t like the management of items taking over my days.
And moreover, this week, while full of accomplishments, was not a relaxing play time with my kids or hanging out with my husband that it could have been thanks to the snow. No, I’ve mostly been frantically sorting all the things and trying to figure out what stays, where it goes, and what leaves.
I plan to update here on the status of my efforts. This purging and organizing what’s left is my biggest goal within my three 90-day goals for a reason: I’m trying to cultivate a more purposeful, simple life. I would like to control my stuff instead of it controlling me.
Leave me a comment and let me know how you manage all the stuff in your home!
I’m probably not the best person to advise on minimalism, since I’ve minimized past the point of comfort and honestly would like to have a bit *more* stuff, but– my view is, don’t declutter instead of living your life. If everything is out of sight in the basement, try to let go of feeling like getting rid of every bit of it is an *emergency.* If everything is put away in closets and cupboards, you can get to it later– after you play in the snow. Allow the process to take time– but not all YOUR time. Letting go of the lifestyle of constantly acquiring more and more stuff is a huge undertaking and it’s okay to just chip away at it now and then when you haven’t got something better to do. The surprising result for me was that once I’d started making a point to leave the junk and go out and have the experiences, my feeling of attachment to a lot of my things naturally waned.
Good stuff, Sadie! So many of the items were originally blessings, like hand-me-downs or baby gifts, and it all served its purpose and no longer does. I spend so much time moving things I don’t want to the basement, but I think it’s mostly all there now and this week has been a good time to dive in to the mess. When my son was born, I let everything go and enjoyed my time with him, which led to a lot of the present chaos. I hate that the mess has stolen a lot of my week but I’m excited as I see the progress!