Minimalism clarified.

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I gave a little self deprecating chuckle after re-reading last night's post. I promise I'm not just some rich white girl getting rid of her designer handbags and praising herself for her all-mighty efforts.

As way of explanation, I should list as a disclaimer for all of my post's nowadays that most of my ramblings now take place way past my bedtime, when I actually am able to steal a free moment to myself. I'm ferociously tapping away at the keyboard or even, like now, on my phone, in between feedings. There's a lot of shifty eyed and panicky looks at the clock while I try to mentally convince myself that writing is more important than sleep or all of the other never-ending items on my to-do list that have gone yet another day unchecked. There's not a whole lot of re-reading and redrafting going on these days, in other words, which is why I think my last post may have come across just... wrong.

In my haste and over excitement to explain the purging of our possessions, I failed to detail the scenario fully. For instance, those three bags of clothing...some of it, strike through, MOST of it was from high school and college days. Or items that just plain don't fit anymore. Items I had held onto way past their expiration dates. And when I talk about getting rid of excess, it includes the normal everyday things like having 30 different types of pens lying around miscellaneous places, stacks of old manuals and magazines or free hotel samples. Junk drawers and junk closets in every room. Things which I think we're all culprits of if we're being honest. It's deciding we don't really need that storage bench and bookshelf from my childhood bedroom because all they do is store non-essentials. Or the fact that multiple bins of sentimental memories..like 2+ baby bins, a high school bin, a college bin, a wedding bin and a bachelorette party bin, might just be excessive. And guys, I didn't even have a big bachelorette party! Where does this stuff keep coming from?! We have so many photographs that I still can't quite figure out how and where to store them. Is there really anything positive that comes from hanging onto old pictures of ex-boyfriends or that many photos of my underage drinking years? Who exactly am I going to show them off to? Surely not my daughter. And if I myself cringe looking at them, well then, maybe it's time. Same with old diaries. Stacks upon stacks of embarrassing stories that benefit no on and stir up some really rough emotions that were better left forgotten. Gone. Christmas decorations? Makeup samples? Office supplies? Old craft supplies? An overflowing linen closet? Electric chargers we're not even sure of to what anymore? AC window units we've been holding onto since our time in Philadelphia, "just in case"? These are all of the things we're purging our lives of today. All of these average, everyday items that if you're not careful start to build up, not even always as a result of excessive spending but just time itself.

So yes, I fully admit that some of it's due to our own sloppy over-indulgence but a lot of it too has been gifts received over the years or just everyday accumulations that we're just now starting to question. Reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing was really instrumental in making me question what new things we want to bring into our lives and why. It's astonishing to realize just how little we need. And maybe experiences ought to be more important than things. And if there are going to be things, as undoubtedly there always are, than shouldn't we be surrounding ourselves with only those which we love?

This is most certainly, 100% certified, a first world problem but one which I'd prefer not to repeat if I can help it. Let there please be less boxes to pack (and unpack) next time.