Less is more

surrounding yourself with pretty things may be comforting, but what does all that stuff really do for you?

i came across an article recently the timing of which couldn’t have been better.

i just bought a house and have been packing up my apartment in preperation for the move. i have A LOT of stuff. TOO MUCH stuff, really. did i mention i hate packing? after procrastinating for a few hours, i finally hunkered down and started throwing stuff into boxes. a mountain of packed boxes later i realised i had hardly made a dent and there was still so much packing to do.

then it came to me.

why am i holding onto all this stuff? i haven’t used, worn, or thought about much of the items in months/years and i really don’t want to move it all to a new location where i will most likely continue to ignore it.

the very next day i came across this.

Living with less

i went home that night, opened every packed box and really asked myself if the items were truly useful, meaningful or irreplaceable. if the answer was no, they went into the donate pile.

i should mention that i’m a collector of things. doesn’t matter what it is, if it catches my eye or imagination, i’ll collect it. funny thing about collectors. they bond to their collections like a mother to her children. i’d be lying if i said it wasn’t a struggle not to come up with excuses to keep everything, but i pressed on and was ruthless in my decision to rid myself of all the crap weighing me (and my move) down. as the night wore on, the editing got easier. soon my donate pile towered over my keep pile and my whole being felt lighter and lighter with each item i chose to get rid of.

now i can’t wait to tackle the rest of the apartment. i’m determined to streamline my belongings and hopefully apply the same principles of paring down to other aspects of my life. i know i’ll continue to struggle with the collecting, but from now on i’ll put a lot more thought into every item i am tempted to bring home, BEFORE i bring it home.

here’s to streamlined living. i can hardly wait for the change.