When Peter and I moved in together in our first home, we had very few possessions. As we unpacked our belongings into our new condominium in Gaithersburg, Maryland, during the winter of 2000 we claimed:
- a whopping 17 boxes between the two of us
- 2 pieces of furniture - a dining room set and a bed
- 2 suitcases and
- one shared Nissan 240SX for transportation.
Between January and July of 2012, we parted with a minimum of 2 boxes of stuff per week either to a consignment store or for donation. Impossible you say? You'd be surprised. Between the toys, linen (towels, table, bedding), clothes, books, tchotskes, dishes, shoes, collections (stamp, coin, jewelry, beer steins, china settings), wall hangings and baby stuff (2 high chairs, strollers, rocking chairs, dishes), media (DVDs and CDs), and old memorabilia, we parted with about 80 boxes and bags of "stuff." We've also parted with several pieces of furniture and are ready to limit our home to one television. We have empty drawers, cabinets, end tables and dressers now. Our closets are meticulously organized. Our Christmas decorations were more than cut in half this year alone. And here is another fact. Peter and I used to each have a huge dresser and each had our own closet. We are now sharing one closet and one dresser between the two of us, and are prepared to cut back again.
We used to have toys spread throughout the house and have now made a rule that if the toy doesn't fit in the one of the children's bedrooms, then it has to go or we have to get rid of other things to make it fit. We talk about clutter to our children and they are AMAZING at choosing to get rid of some of their art, clothes and passing their toys on to other children. We've also made our voices heard to the point that I received lots of consumables for Christmas in the form of wine and chocolate (woo-hoo!) and no nick-knacks. My mother even said prior to Christmas, "I refuse to get you anything except wine and a gift certificate or it will just end up at SaversMart!" Ha!
I look around my house and see so many more things that need to go, and it just keeps coming into the house, especially with the little ones. Additionally, weeding out means a mess amongst messes and it then takes me a lot longer to get it all put back together. Never mind the endless line of helpers I have to ask me a million questions or dig stuff out of boxes after I've decided to part with it. My favorite difficulty is that sometimes they move my piles after I've sorted them and then it becomes a do-over!
Some friends come to our house and say, "Wow! For as much as you've gotten rid of, your house doesn't look too much different!" I think that is true, but I know. I know those dusty skeletons in our closets are vacating, one by one. I know I'm not at risk of anything falling out when I open doors. I know, and I feel lighter.
We are still working on limiting the other aspects of our lives, as Peter and I do have a hard time saying no. But it wouldn't be life without a challenge! In addition, when we move to Gillette, our "dream house" is taking a new form. Even though we do have four children, we are actually looking at homes smaller than the one we live in as another step in our lives toward simplicity. After the insane 2012 we had, and looking forward to a big move this spring, the goal is that all this simplicity brings us time. Time with our children, time to read, time for philanthropy, time to travel and ultimately time to just play.
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