My husband came up with the term "paper worship" for me a few years ago. You see I have (had) a problem with paper. Mail, magazines, receipts, letters, papers that my kids have doodled on I hold on to. I don't toss mail because I'm afraid someone will find it and steal my identity. (I have a paper shredder, right next door, but won't walk over there and use. Lazy.) I put all my magazines together because they might have some good ideas in them and I'll reference them later. (I have the Internet now.) Receipts to possibly return something (what? a head of lettuce?). Letters from T. I can't throw them out (and will not budge on this one). Kids doodle art work... sentimental (but they all look alike). So on Saturday some one told me I was acting like a hoarder and it made me so disgusted that I went through almost every area of the house where I keep little collections of paper and got rid of it. I think I'm done with the paper worship. (I'd like to just empty everything into a huge pit now because being compared to a hoarder is vom-atrocious. Also, hoarder is a very bad word to me and should only be used in the following way, "I'm so glad you're not anything at all like a hoarder. No one could ever accuse you of hoarding.")
I've been working on this downsizing of my material possessions for a few months now and it seems like I'm in slow motion. Saturday was a big step for me. Now I'm ready to go through books and my clothes. I know I only wear about 30% of the clothes in my closet. I made deliberate actions to purchase things that I wanted or thought I needed so it's very hard to just discard it into a trash or giveaway pile even though I don't even consider wearing it anymore.The books... I think I'm finally ready to ditch paper books. I felt a small piece of me die as I wrote that. I like the tangible. I like flipping pages, dog-earring pages, the smell of a book. I like the look of a well worn book because it means it's a favorite. It had an impact on me and I want to remember that. But... I suppose it's time to move forward. Is anyone still carrying stone tablets around? No, they moved on. I should too. (Birthday present? Nook or Kindle? give me some opinions. Or, rather, give T some hints!)
No one really understands our want for a minimalistic style of living. I don't talk about it here um, at all? I want a smaller house and less stuff. Less to clean and fewer things to become a time suck. I don't like clutter. The current state of my home is nothing like I want. In fact it's probably the opposite. I know most people in our culture are thinking bigger while we are thinking smaller. It's unconventional. It's also not for everyone. I am told often that we need this much room to be happy. The kids need this to be happy. You need a bigger kitchen to be happy. Or the phrase we hear a lot, "I just don't understand why you'd want to do that". (I realize I'm being sort of vague about our real plans and I'm doing that on purpose, sorry. I plan on a big reveal when everything is finished. I have no perfect time frame for you. I might be a little superstitious about these things.)
Anyhow, that's what I'm feeling. Less is more. We'll be back to our regularly scheduled mundane posts tomorrow. (By the way, does anyone else feel the same way? I'd love to hear some of your thoughts.)
Oh you broke my heart hearing you are giving up the books... its the one thing I refuse to "modernize" I love me some books and would LOVE to have a wall filled with them ceiling to floor. someday. someday.
ReplyDeleteAs for the less is more, minimalist approach.... its like we are soul sisters. We dont do renovations to add more things to our home, we do them to get rid of stuff and open our home up to more conversation, laughter, people, experiences instead of material things. It sounds weird but it makes me feel really good and all warm inside everytime we get rid of something we have no real "need" for. We have exactly 4 bowls, plates, glasses, etc. 1 saucepan, skillet, bread pan etc and I dont even keep baby clothes around- sure we might use them SOMEDAY, but someone else can use them RIGHT NOW. Good luck with this, I know its hard at first because we have been so programed to beleive we "need" so many things- but it is such a feeling of joy to know you can survive and thrive and be so happy on so little!
Thank you! I felt so good clearing things out. Our plates and bowls are divided into daily (one for each of us) and then I have the rest separated and really out of the way for if we have someone over for dinner. I'm bad about keeping clothes for the kids, although now that we have people to hand them down to it's much better. I'll be reading this comment over and over while I'm doing this because it's such an encouragement!
ReplyDeleteBOOM! I'm not crazy. Someone else thinks plates and bowls ect. should be one per family member.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, do I know you? Also, this is not the place to gloat... as I've suggested that the comments be "kind". (123)
DeleteYour blog just tricked me into flirting with a stranger.
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DeleteWe live in an 1800 sq foot house with our family of 6 and it gets tight and there are more times than you can imagine when I'd like a bigger kitchen or family room but I'm also grateful bc we've been forced to constantly evaluate our possessions and be careful about what we bring into our home. But in spite of that awareness I am constantly getting rid of things. It's a process. So good for you.
ReplyDeleteYou are very pretty and you smell like flowers.
ReplyDeleteYou are very short and smell like a hobbit.
DeleteI apologize. That was intended to be a response to my wife.
ReplyDeleteHaha!! I could delete these, but it's too funny. Who would be offended... it's such a KIND comment!
ReplyDeleteYes, I hate clutter too. Although, we DO need a bigger house right now. We are bursting at the seams. I feel the same about less is more, less STUFF in general, and simplify. Can't wait to hear your big plans.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I got a Nook for Christmas and love it. But I've never played on a Kindle before, so I couldn't really compare the two.
I love your decision to make change - I went through this a few years back. Now I try to do this at least once to twice a year (going through what I don't need). I made a special file binder for each of my kids as they were growing up and put the file right in the file cabinet where I kept all their work that I wanted to keep throughout the years so each year I could determine what I wanted to still hole on to. Then I made another file for awards and certificates and one for school grades, etc. for them each. When it came to graduation time, I had a good amount of things to select from to share with them about their school years. = ) Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your project and your downsizing is something more should think of. I'm going to keep my thoughts on this to myself too. = )
Irish
As far as the simplification goes: all that matters is that we respect each other. I won't always understand what makes you (and others) happy and I know few people can figure out what makes me happy ;). I don't think either of us feel like we're better than others simply for not always having common ground.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the person who compared you to a hoarder was joking because you are so far from a hoarder it's crazy! You and I both know an aunt that struggles with hoarding and you are nothing like that. My mom is more a hoarder than you and she's not even close to being a hoarder either. Anyhoo, you're a great lady and you're doing fine. You're always trying to improve and that's more than most of us (me) can say.