And it all started because I read this book, The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify Your Life by Francine Jay.
Well, maybe my declutter bug started with a comment from my
sister-in-law who mentioned how much stuff we (Americans) have, after visiting
Brazil and staying with people who have very little, but are so happy and so
generous.
Why do we have so much stuff? And why is so much of it
really just plain silly to actually keep and store? We can all get by on much
less.
Maybe my declutter bug started when I moved to college and
realized I didn’t have money to shop, and other than food and textbooks, I
really didn’t need to shop, anyway.
Or maybe I got the declutter bug when I started taking serious classes in family
finance and realized I had major goals to accomplish (like paying off Sam’s
student loans before they came due and never going into consumer debt). That’s
motivation to avoid shopping-for-fun.
And during this time, I moved countless times (9-ish) from apartment
to apartment to finally a home, and all that while we chiseled down on stuff we
were sick of moving, and stuff we found we never used since we last packed it.
Now, I wasn’t always good at decluttering. Oh boy. I think
it took until I was 15 to actually have a clean room. And that meant I could
walk from my bed to my door without stepping on anything. My walls were always
decorated with everything and
anything, as well as my dresser top, desk top, window sill, etc., etc. I
definitely had clutter.
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| Our "stuff" after unloading our uhaul in our previous apartment, a few years ago. Most of what you see here was crammed in our 2nd bedroom |
During the first 5 years of our marriage, we got good at
purging! But probably better at re-organizing and re-shifting. Our last two
apartments before our home had two bedrooms. The second bedroom only had our
stuff in it. Stuff taking up the entire closet, stuff on shelves from floor to
ceiling. Stuff. Stuff. STUFF! And to think how much time I spent un-doing our
puzzle of stuff to find a more efficient way to fit in all the pieces so I
didn’t feel like it was going to topple on me. What a waste of time (especially because a lot of that
stuff we have since tossed)!
Okay, confession time. We moved into our house not quite two
years ago. And we haven’t really done much purging. In fact, all of our stuff
filled (almost) our four bedroom house (not to mention we have a living room
AND a family room…which none of our apartments could boast). And we’ve acquired
more
stuff—you know, all that we’re-homeowners-now stuff. And where we did have
empty space, it has been really easy to stow stuff.
Then comes a long a new director in my office. He’s from a
different office, so he comes with a nice, fresh view of how cluttered crowded
to improve our office. He wiggled funds around and did all sorts of things to
open the space and clear the clutter, or as he calls it, feng shui-ed it. I spent the last two months decluttering my
office. So maybe that’s the true source of my declutter bug.
Then add to that a discussion right after Christmas with a
great friend of mine about gifts, and stuff, and organizing, and then she
mentioned the book, Joy of Less. All
the above things had been ringing in my head for weeks—maybe months and years.
So, I read the book.
And I have the declutter bug. Five fairly large boxes of
stuff are waiting to be donated. Junk has been thrown away. Papers have been
shredded and recycled. More stuff is on my list of things to sell.
It feels AWESOME.
I’ve read a few decluttering books before, but this one has
a unique perspective. Minimalism.
My following posts will tell you more of what I find most
noteworthy about the book, and perhaps you’ll catch my declutter bug, too.
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