The kids and I spent last week in Ohio living in a small apartment above my brother-in-law’s insurance business. We were visiting family and trying to escape the North Carolina heat, though Ohio was pretty warm also. The apartment had the basic fixtures, so we took with us the minimal amount of things needed to have a fun week.
It didn’t really occur to me while we were there, but walking into a room that isn’t cluttered with stuff that calls out for you to act on it was a nice change of pace. The apartment was less than 1000 square feet and we had plenty of room to live and sleep. Coming back home to our 3100 square foot, 3 story house that is full of stuff turned out to be a stress I didn’t expect to encounter.
So now that I’ve been able to live with less for a week I’m more motivated to simplify our house and get rid of most of the clutter. The challenge will be getting agreement from everyone as to what is considered clutter, what’s a “nice to have” item, and what is essential. I also have to overcome my tendency to try to do too much at once. For example, I’ve been known to drag everything out of a room and totally exhaust myself going through it so that I don’t even care that I’ve just reorganized the piles in various locations around the house – think deck chairs on the Titanic.
The plan is to clear out one drawer or simplify one surface to a point that the only things left are the items we really use each day. If I haven’t used it in the past year, it’ll probably be donated or trashed. Some things will go on Craigslist or eBay if the amount I can get from them is on par with the time it takes to sell it.
What encourages you to simplify? What have been some of the biggest challenges in doing so?