Weekend Motivation 176

You know what fascinates me while seeming aspirational and terrifying all at the same time? Minimalism. There is so much that really does appeal to me. The simplicity of only having and doing what you need is something that appeals to me on many levels. It’s eco-friendly, you save money and it seems with the want of and the accumulation of less stuff, my life would be so much simpler. Better even. Many of the ideals of minimalism I even claim to be values of mine. However the world may never have seen a more pathetic excuse for a minimalist than there is in me. But I have two dressers and closets full of clothes, 2 vehicles and live in a house that is fit for a big family not a couple. Lots of my stuff only gets used once a year if that.

This year a lot of that might chance but out of necessity. There’s a really good chance we’ll be in a tiny rental for a long time with minimal furniture. Two decades of stuff (which I do purge on occasion) has one of three places to land. It can be turfed, put in storage or into a small rental house. Almost none of our house stuff will make it all the way to our new home. Our stuff is either too old like mattresses or unneeded like dressers since we’ll be using a lot of built-ins. Recently I’ve started getting rid of some stuff, not a lot yet but it’s been really hard even though it’s not nessesaraly something I want to take with me to the new house. Everything we’ve accumulated has a story. I still have my childhood dresser and nightstand. Honestly I think they were hand-me-downs to my mom before they were handed to me and I don’t even like them. Even though we will only have one dresser in the house and that’s not what I want it to look like it’s still hard to get rid of. Same goes for frog figurines leftover from childhood and jewelry I’ve been given but haven’t even worn once. In my head there is no need for these chachkies and I would like to have a house free from clutter and things that just exist to be dusted.

In the rest of my life there isn’t clutter and leftovers like this. I’m okay with letting go of habits or people that aren’t that great despite the good times. I’ve also moved things just to get rid of them in a new location which I don’t want to repeat, especially if I’m going to have to pay to store it in the meantime. Even though I do get attached to my cars and they all have names I can let go when it’s time. So a bit of a different twist for weekend motivation this weekend but it’s what I’m thinking about right now. I think it’s something we can all think about too however we might have to extend the metaphor. What things or categories of your life do you have more ‘stuff’ in than you would ideally like? It could be piggy banks shaped like frogs or people you keep around that make you feel drained. It could be too much device time and not enough family time or even wanting to change the work you do. Once you identify the problem it does get easier to change it. I did sell two dressers and a drafting table last week and I’ve noticed once you get started it gets a whole lot easier!