On Minimalism

I think minimalism is my natural inclination in many ways.  I have always preferred the compact version of pretty much anything.  I have a horror of storage units and even daylight basements--all that extra space removed from the essence of home is unsettling to me.  I've always like turtles--so compact and their home always transported neatly with them.  I much prefer campers to trailers.  I love poetry for it's essential compactness--no excess, just that economy of words.

I've always loved staying in a condo on vacation with the airy, uncluttered feel--lightly filled space with just what you need and nothing more.

BUT I was raised by a mom and grandmother who had lived through the Depression.  Anything, everything, could come in handy one day.  Throwing things away is wasteful.  You never know when you might need it.  As soon as you get rid of it, THAT"S when you'll discover you need it.  And so goes the tape that plays in my head, recorded throughout childhood.

Cleaning out Mom's condo after she died really went a long way toward mitigating that narrative.  It took FOREVER.  SO MUCH STUFF.  And much of it had little or no sentimental value and was rarely used.

I have found the paring down process easiest in stages.  After finishing (mostly) sorting through Mom's things, (with Cara thank heavens!) I came home and did some paring down.  Then The Flood happened, when water flowed through our house while we were in Disneyland.  About 1/3 to 1/2 the contents of our house were packed into a storage unit in the driveway.  When it was time to bring them back in, we thought VERY carefully and what we did and did not re-integrate, and got rid of a lot more stuff.

I've continued to pare down different areas.  Recently I did a major closet overhaul.  If I didn't LOVE it, I didn't keep it.  Now getting dressed is so much easier--no more pawing through all those clothes I kind of like but never actually wear.  And my closet is so much more visually appealing.  And you look at your closet every single day, so that's no small perk.

And now.....we are (almost for sure) moving to a condo in Fairhaven.  Not a teeny tiny apartment style, though we did look at some of those.  We'll still have 1200 square feet (about 1,000 less than now), 3 bedrooms and actually 2 single garages (!)  So it might no be that hard to fit what we have into our new space.  But I am, nevertheless, using this as an opportunity to once again carefully evaluate each and every item in our home, and make sure it brings enough joy with it to come along.