De-Clutter Your Life

On June 11, Carmen wrote an article "Minimize Your Stuff, Maximize Your Life". I'd like to touch on this subject a little today. Today Carmen, David (my brother), Gretchen (Mom), and I arrived at our vacation destination. We drove 6 hours to reach a nice 3 bedroom, 2 full bath apartment on Tybee Island, Georgia. We have all been waiting for this moment, especially Mom, who was quite surprised as we first unveiled David joining us for the week vacation; then again, when we revealed we were NOT staying at home in NC but rather going to this island. Its been years since she's been on vacation (David too). Mom has done so much for David and me that we have been talking about sending her on vacation for a couple years now, and what better place to send her than on a beach vacation with her two sons!

So we arrived at this apartment just off the beach, equipped with a nice, second story balcony. We came into a clean, cool living space that was quite tidy. It didn't have a whole lot in it, except for some furniture, decorations, books, and other miscellaneous things. One of our favorite being a large chess board with pieces 12-inches tall! It is a place where we may 'miss' having certain things that we are accustomed to back home. However, on the other hand, it is so pleasant to have a tidy, clean home with little in it except for the necessities.

Living this way is by no means easy, especially when you must purge in order to get there. Although, once you do get there, it is, in my opinion, a much easier way of life. Simply put, it is less to maintain. Imagine some of these things for a moment:

1) Not having to dust all the nic-nacs that you've collected over the years, and haven't touched or moved since the day you brought them home.

2) Not having to reorganize things when you do decide to bring something important and meaningful home.

3) Not having to move things cluttering the floor in order to sweep or vacuum.

4) Not having a large to-do list involving these pesky materials. Materials that in many cases, don't mean anything to you, they're just there.

5) Spending a fraction of the time cleaning because you have that much less stuff to put back to its rightful place, dust, or otherwise handle.

Each time I've walked into a temporary home this year, it's struck me how much I appreciate simplicity. My mental energy is much higher when I'm in these spaces because I don't have to worry about all the stuff -clutter- to clean and organize! It guess its just less to focus on. Sometimes just having rooms adequately furnished and decorated gets me overwhelmed because, again, its that much stuff to worry about.

I have learned much from Mom on this subject, as she's a professional organizer, de-clutterer, and house cleaner. See her Facebook page Redeemed Spaces. One thing she has guided me to do that has helped me dramatically, and I would recommend to all, is to clean as you go (also mentioned in my previous article on June 6, 'The Never Ending To-Do Lists').