Happy 2016! I hope that everyone enjoyed the holidays. We had my brother here visiting over Christmas and it was so nice to spend time with him and have him finally meet Nolan. Now that January has hit and we're into a new year, we are once again focusing on what we want to do around here.
Last week I shared a quote on my Facebook page, which highlights what has been on my mind for the last while. "We have traded our freedom for overfilled closets, and our passion for unnecessary maintenance. We have sacrificed life in pursuit of clutter".
This rings so true for me. I find when there is too much "stuff" around the house, or too much "mess", I feel stressed, aggravated and distracted. Instead of playing with and enjoying my children and B, I'm trying to organize things to either get them out the door or find them new homes. NO MORE! I want my children to remember fun and playing and adventures - not time spent dealing with meaningless objects.
This past week our life has taken an unexpected turn (more to come on this), so B and I are taking some time to focus on what is most important to us. For the last year or more, we have done our best to make our focus our family and friends. To us, people, relationships and experiences are far more important than "things", "stuff" and "possessions". With that being said, 2016 has kicked off with us turning a focus to reducing the amount of stuff we have around the house.
I have started this journey to live with less, and hope to share our progress with you along the way. It won't be something that happens quickly and most definitely not over night, but I hope that along the way we can find more time, happiness and money as we let go of the things that are cluttering up our space, as well as our time.
In the last week, we have cleared out close to 40o items from our home and made almost $200 selling things we no longer need (mostly baby clothes or items). It's been so therapeutic to start removing things that take up space and time and I can feel the difference it is making in my life emotionally. At the end of the month I plan to report in with a total breakdown of how many items we have released and, as a bonus, how much money we have made selling some of these items.
Has anyone else attempted to live a more minimalistic lifestyle? What are some of your tips to help you declutter and release items that may have an emotional hold on you?
