Sometimes, I think it distracts him. I think he would do well with less stuff and fewer things to make decisions about. Like so many successful people who wear the same thing every day (so they can save their decision making for important things), this would be a great practice for him to embrace.

After ending my first marriage, I divested myself of many of my belongings, but often have felt their loss. I wanted to embrace minimalism. I wanted to truly be able to let go of my attachment to things strictly for the memories they held. My sister is not a minimalist. She likes having nice things. She collects art and kitchen gadgets. She works hard to make her house and yard a showplace. I like visiting her house and sometimes wish our house looked like that. Then, I think about all the work it takes to care for all of it and become exhausted at the very idea. I much prefer reading, playing with the dog, or even meditating over cleaning, arranging, and housekeeping.

For all these reasons, my husband and I both started contemplating embracing minimalism, at least a little. Notice I said contemplating embracing it. After years of buying into consumerism, neither of us was really sure that we could eliminate our attachments to having and buying stuff. If nothing else, though, we knew some decluttering and home improvement was needed to keep us sane.

Closets

I decided we needed to start with the closets. All of them in the house were full. I know this sounds counter to minimalism, but we needed to be able to organize the contents better, especially in the master bedroom. As my husband pointed out, if I gave away all the clothes and shoes I don’t wear, there would be a lot more room. While my itty bitty committee sputtered in the back of my mind, ranting about all of his junk, I realized he was correct. Admittedly, much of that is because I have gained weight and they don’t fit. I am working on it and hope most will fit soon. I’m not sure how many will still be in style, so much of it can go. However, even after cleaning out all the old, I still felt more organization was needed.

After some research, we decided a custom closet system would be worth the investment. It could be tailored to our odd-sized closets and specific organizational challenges. Also, it will add value to the house if we look to sell. It made a big difference, and it also felt true to certain aspects of minimalism. We can’t get rid of everything. Keeping what we do have organized helps us focus on the important things, not on trying to manage or find our stuff.

Offices

We are lucky. We both have our own offices in the house. His office is stuffed with years of paper and detritus. Mine is full with everything we could not find another place for in the house. I thought I had gotten rid of most of my superfluous stuff in my divorce. It’s amazing how fast I replaced it. After purging our closet, we knew how to declutter our respective offices. He spent hours shredding years of paper, and I donated old books and organized my art supplies.

My office is actually the loft. I love the space, but it is lacking in natural light. Like many people, I am more productive and healthy when I get natural sunlight, especially when working. With this missing from my home office, I found myself to be less effective when working there, thus defeating the purpose of a home office. So, once again, despite our attempts at minimalism, we spent money. This time it was spent on adding windows and skylights.

Kitchen

What is it about kitchen gadgets? How many tools do you really need to cook meals? According to my sister, anything that makes one task easier is worth having. I’m not that bad, but it is easy to collect gadgets and tools. I keep thinking I should empty out the cupboards and only keep the necessary items. I couldn’t do it. Some of those gadgets I have been collecting for a while and thought enough of to keep through the divorce. Others were wedding presents (from my latest wedding). However, I can keep from buying anything new and as things wear out, I don’t need to replace them. I have to admit, some things have been moved to that one cupboard in the kitchen that requires a step stool and moving the stand mixer just to access.

Minimalism. We didn’t quite make it. However, we did make good progress. We still have more stuff than we need. I still have a few clothes that don’t fit, but they are motivating me to lose weight. My husband has eliminated some of his “just in case” junk and the rest of it we organized in a set of wood lockers we installed in the garage. While we did spend money in the process, we gained a lot of organization. We have organized everything we kept, and our things do not hold sway over our minds. In my estimation, this makes our foray into minimalism a success. We were feeling bogged down by our possessions. Not any longer. That is a win.

Photo Credit

Photo is public domain from Unsplash on Pixabay

Guest Author Bio
Valerie Jocums

Valerie, originally a computer programmer, is just starting her new career as a writer. She loves the sun, her Australian Shepherd dog, and her husband. When she isn’t mountain biking, listening to music, or reading, she is writing about everything she has learned.

Follow her on twitter: @vkjocums

I created a short video on the impact of mental-physical clutter on my life and offered a challenge to do some de-cluttering of your own. Let us know what you think.

Steve Goldberg is the co-author of Finding the Upside:  Practical Wisdom for Challenging Times.  You can read more about and purchase the book at:  www.findingtheupside.org

It’s the holiday season again. For some it is the happiest time of the year, but for others it’s a time of stress. No matter what category you fall into, I’d like to suggest that you start a new tradition this year, and that is to follow your heart and only do those things that bring you joy. Now I know that is a huge order because the universal energy is an extreme force during this time of year. It seems the universal focus is buy, buy, buy and that energy sucks us into a holiday black hole.

One way to curtail the madness is to recognize and truly observe the spirit of the holiday. Please don’t think I’m not asking to give up the bountiful smorgasbord that awaits that special day. Lord knows you’ve been waiting for Aunt Sadie’s cornbread dressing for a year and heaven forbid that I would suggest eliminating anyone from being “The Biggest Loser”.

I’m talking about really taking some quiet reflective time to love and appreciate your life and all of the blessings received throughout the year: the sustenance of family and friends that adds to the enrichment of your existence and praying for those whose relatives and friends have passed away, leaving them here to define loneliness and fight off feelings of abandonment. Be grateful for the food and shelter you possess and maintain while you pray for the people of Haiti as they endure the toughest trials they have ever had to face.

Starting the season off in this way sets the precedent for an open heart to thrive in the peace on earth, goodwill towards men theme.

Another age old tradition that needs reconsideration is the retail shopping frenzy. Every year we fall prey to the retailer’s ploy to get us into the stores at the crack of dawn for those so called “super bargains”. They believe it will put them in the “black” financially. By cutting a few prices, their stockholders can celebrate the season without thoughts of cutting a lot of staff. They advertise a fantastic bargain for the “stuff” that shoppers want most. But much to shoppers’ dismay, they find that the item is sold out because there were only one or two items for sale at that price. Just to keep from going home empty handed and getting some rest (after all, it is 4am), the shopper decides to stay and see what other deals may be found, while “visions of sugar plums dance in the heads” of the retailer.

Now I’ve never experienced one of these early morning sales, but I can’t imagine receiving the ultimate in customer service at that time of the morning. I would think excessive crowds would bring out the worst in salespeople who are operating on limited sleep, because most retail employees are pushed to the brink during the holiday season. They work a tireless amount of hours to be there for the last-minute shoppers, the professional returners and the gift card redeemers. Many times the only memories some of them have of the holiday season is watching the boxing match over the last X-box or WII system in the last store in a 50 mile radius.

So please have a heart for those who are there to serve. If you’re going out, be kind and play nice with the others — or better yet, just stay home and rest.

Photo Credit

“Holiday shoppers” AP Photo/ The Tennessean, John Partipilo

#1 Rowdy Kittens

I love Rowdy Kittens, the blog about social change through simple living. Tammy Strobel, author of Simply Car-free and Smalltopia, created RowdyKittens mostly to keep friends updated on her life but it has since grown into a community. Tammy writes about downsizing, entrepreneurship, living without a car, and simple, minimalist living.

#2 Be more with less

Be more with less is about simplifying your life, getting rid of stress, and “more time and less stuff, and more joy with less obligation.” Courtney Carver makes no secret about the fact that she’s made mistakes: “I have made a bunch of money and spent even more. I have been too busy, too tired, too full, too stressed and too overworked for too long and I am changing my ways.” Courtney makes minimalism seem very doable — and she has an engaging way of inspiring others.

#3 365 Less Things

One woman’s 365 day resolution to “declutter every wardrobe, bench, shelf, under bed, pantry and garage space in my home by giving away, throwing away or selling one item everyday for the next twelve months.” It’s a good approach — bite-sized pieces of clutter. I had to follow her RSS to find out if she can do it…it’s like a minimalist soap opera!

#4 Marc and Angel Hack Life

Mark and Angel started a blog to share practical thoughts on  life, hacks, productivity, aspirations, health, work, tech and general self improvement and more. They promise you will not find “a regurgitation of someone else’s point of view on our site. This is the ultimate site for lists like “50 Things Everyone Should Know How to Do”. The only puzzling part is the ad link for Russian Brides. Doesn’t seem to fit with the brand.

#5 Squawkfox

This blog bills itself as the site where “frugal living is sexy, delicious, and fun.” It features tips to live creatively and frugally whether you’re interested in travel, home and organizing, holidays, recipes…whatever. With the holiday season coming up, this site is the perfect place to get ideas that will only add to the fun and leave your credit cards a bit less stressed.

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