This was originally posted at another blog of mine (www.motheringtc.com) that I have deleted. I have combined all my blogs into this one for the sake of simplicity in my already busy life. Jen – 6/13/09.
Over the summer, I have driven past several places who were moving or remodeling who had to buy dumpsters to get rid of all their junk. I couldn’t fathom being able to fill a dumpster with stuff and still having anything left!
There’s been a growing movement to simplify. Increased pressure from society (who exactly IS society anyway?) to have all this STUFF along with increasing reliance on consumer debt to pay for said STUFF has made people throw their hands up and say, “Enough!”. There is the guy who has built himself a house the size of a closet (who now makes a living off of it – WTG!), and the guy who is trying to live with only 100 things for a year. There is even a blog devoted to nothing but removing clutter (Unclutterer)!
As Flylady says STUFF is Stuff That Undermines Family Fun. And it does! Life is so much better when you have less of it.
* It’s cheaper. Not only do you spend less on the stuff itself, but you spend less on housing because you don’t need as much space to store it, and you don’t need to buy more stuff to organize it. There is a great book called Your Money or Your Life that addresses this piece very well. I got it from the library so many times I finally just bought it. They have a workbook at their website also.
* It makes life easier. You can spend more time with people you love or doing what you want when you don’t have to move stuff to clean, pick up stuff to see the floor or vacuum, or move stuff off the counters to eat or cook or pay bills. No more pre-work, just to be able to do the work!
Over the years, I’ve found many great resources on simplicity. My favorite book is The Simple Living Guide. Zen Habits also has excellent articles & he’s compiled some of the best into a book. Some of my favorites are:
21 Easy Hacks to Simplify Your Life
Simple Living Manifesto: 72 Ideas to Simplify Your Life
20 Strategies To Defeat the Urge to do Useless Tasks
The Unsurpassable Productivity List: A Handy Guide to Getting Important Things Done
How has living simply changed your life? What did you eliminate that you thought would be impossible? Post a comment & let us know!