Thank you everyone for the book love! Much appreciated. Still time to enter the draw for a copy and you can read a review of the book here at Carrie Willard’s site. If you’re reading or have read Do Less I would greatly appreciate an honest review on Amazon (reviews are a big help for new authors).
Confession: after tallying how many things have come into our house since my last update I quickly found 18 things that could go. I’ll have to be more vigilant in the next few months to keep under the two out/one in ratio.
Even my husband commented that we had quite a few new things. Shorts and t-shirts for the boys for a recent trip to Portugal and for, fingers crossed, summer. I have two new summer dresses. Our very tall 16 month old has outgrown the Ergo carrier and we are now toting him around in a toddler sized Tula (for carrier aficionados, yes, they are as good as people as say). The clothing felt like a splurge but all of our summer clothes only lasted us four days in the wonderful heat of Portugal. As a family of four we traveled with a medium sized suitcase and a duffle bag. A quarter of the suitcase was diapers. Not too shabby.
There are even some new toys in the house. Yes, we are not perfect minimalists and a dinosaur/car thing plus two little trucks and a small ball came back with us from Portugal. In my minimalist packing mindset I forgot to bring any toys. What can I say, travel and lots of sun, plus a very excited four year-old, makes my resolve weak. Stealth weeding of the toy stash stat!
A few great reads from this week:
- Want more focus? Wear a watch. Great reminder about un-tethering from your phone.
- A Life Beyond “Do What You Love” The privilege of desiring to do work that you love. Our desires should not be the ultimate arbiters of vocation. Sometimes we should do what we hate, or what most needs doing, and do it as best we can.
I have pretty much got to the stage where in terms of our jointly own things and things of my own I have got them down to a more manageable stage. Long way to go yet, but I am content with what we have achieved so far. So why is it I am still looking around the house and feeling there is FAR too much there? I wrote about the plateau in decluttering in my blog a while back and I think I have hit the plateau. Need to take a run off the edge I think 🙂
As opposed to Erin’s, my home is definitely NOT zen at the moment. We are getting some work done on the house and building materials are around. Also, as the place is stuffed and dirty, I am getting annoyed and want to part of even things that I know my husband and kids love. Am I a mad minimalist extremist? If it was me, on my own, I would live in an empty house with white walls and one wall full of books! 🙂
You are still ahead of the game! As long as there is more going out than coming in, you are on the right track. 😉
My home is in a pretty zen place right now, but there is always room for improvement. If I am feeling overwhelmed, I give myself a hour to go through stuff and declutter. A short amount of time dedicated to tossing things in a bag for donation can make a big impact! Okay, off to take my own advice now… Working on getting rid of all the non-essential kitchen appliances. Round two.
🙂 We’re on the same page on this, Erin. Got a chance to catch up on your blog recently. Great updates! Sounds like life is going well. Cheers, Rachel
I find as I bring in fewer items I tend to stall on letting things go. Need help with this issue I feel! Does my brain think there is a plateau to my minimalist comfort level and won’t let me purge? I’ve overdone it in the past after all. Like cutting calories to then realize your metabolism also slows to counter your efforts?
Commenting with my doctor during an appointment today on our mutual respect for and trying to achieve minimalism. She went on a houseboat tour and saw these streamlined homes with smaller square footage than a hotel room- really how much do we really need? Or think we need? Let it go! Why hold onto that book you read twenty years ago – there are new books to read!
Working on getting rid of an extensive cookbook collection – but copying my favourite recipes onto the computer. Telling myself – at least ONE recipe per day to chip away at it.
Oh Rachel – That was a reality check. I have 18 things to go every day. Not just since my last clear-out. Oh boy have I a way to go? Reckon you need to threaten (promise) to visit me then I’ll pull it out of the bag.
Slowly and surely! eh?
Just e-mailed you x