Minimalism and Me: Decluttering

Before:

At noon today:

at 4pm today:

Oh my goodness, you guys. The instant that second shelf came out I felt like 20 pounds had just rolled off my shoulders. So odd. So freeing. Both of the kids do not like it.

This month, I signed up for the course "A Simple Year" because I wanted to explore minimalism and see whether it's for me. Decluttering was the first module and that makes sense because is the first step towards the simple life. I have been decluttering for years and expect to continue for many more.

I have always decluttered because 1) We don't use the stuff, 2) We don't need the stuff, 3) we don't have room for the stuff we don't use or need. Those are excellent reasons to declutter. But there is more.

There is choice.

As I cleaned the house and decluttered things during the January Cure, I realised that I am a minimalist only because my house imposes it on me. I have two coats--not because I only want two coats or because I can only afford two coats--but because my closet is so small--two coats is all that will fit --given the other three people in my house and their coats!

I have the kitchen gadgets I have--because that's all I have room for.

That's not really choosing. That's accommodating.

So, I thought, if I am going to choose minimalism, or the simple life, or whatever, then I need to make a space where I don't have it. I need to choose space--over display, over storage, over "usefulness."

Books from the shelves above were re-located to my library landing--and using the Kon-Marie method,  I weeded out these books to make room for them.

I'm on my way.

From the Weekend: Scenes from the Bedroom Cure

Found on my husband's nightstand while curing the bedroom.

I hadn't really intended to do the "cure" quite this devotedly. I'd intended to do it the way I always do on-line events like this--pick my own tasks and do them at my own pace. Instead, it seems I am doing almost all of the assignments--and when they are assigned, too.

Along with hundreds of others all over the world, I cleaned my bedroom this weekend. I started Friday and finished Saturday.

The assignment was simply to clean. I took it a step further and decided to incorporate one of Joshua Becker's assignments from "A Simple Year." To wit, to declutter this room as one of two areas of my home and get rid of anything "unnecessary."

Once again, I started with a room badly in need of both cleaning and decluttering.

This was taken from the doorway:

This is rather embarrassing, but I had let things go--I knew the big clean up was coming and I was working 'til 10 pm all this week---excuses, excuses.

Immediately to the left of the door, we have the dresser. (That is the closet door to its left)

Then, the loveseat/dog's bed. I have had this piece of furniture since a room-mate dragged it home from a University reading lounge back in the eighties. (Room-mate and University shall remain nameless.) It's an incredibly sturdy and heavy piece of furniture.

On to the bed wall. It is a lovely little alcove just big enough to feel cosy.

And then, to the right of the bed (and tucked behind the doorway) are the shelves.

Oh, the shelves.

I have been thinking about culling their contents for months, now.

Easy to purge: the Simple Scrapbooks magazines I've had for years--but never referenced. Time will tell if I regret that decision, but I doubt it. My scrapbooking style is as simple as can be--and I don't really need books for ideas, anymore.

More difficult, however, were the books dealing with my faith. I have had periods of intense belief and periods of indifferent, almost non-belief throughout my life. I am in one of the latter right now--and I am not completely at peace with it.

When I started purging the books --the books on what it means to be a Christian woman, the books on prayer and the books on God's character, and so on, I was scared. Really scared. I didn't know what it meant. I didn't know what I was doing. Was I saying good-bye to ever believing in God again? Was I committing to being an agnostic? Was I turning my back on God? I wasn't sure I was ready to do that, but those years I was a practicing Christian were truly some of the worst years in my marriage and family-life.

I decided to keep two C.S. Lewis books, Mere Christianity (which I have read) and The Problem of Pain (which I think I've started but not finished). I committed to reading the latter within six months. I will decide then whether to keep my books or let go of them.

It also occurred to me that if I ever do return to my faith--I just might want a different library.

Marie Kondo would have me pile these books on the floor. My knees argued back--and won!

As I considered each book, eventually I found myself picking up each one, holding it in my hand and asking myself, "Does this bring me joy?" Then, if the answer was no, I put the books in the box and said, out loud, "Thank you for your service."

And so I built a pile of boxes outside the door.

As you can see, I decluttered more than just the Christian books.

The rest was easy.

I decided I didn't want to see these boxes underneath the love seat anymore.

What did they store? One box was full of painting clothes suitable for a range of weights and seasons. I kept something in my current size suitable for summer and trashed the rest. The other box held summer clothes for a person about eighty pounds lighter than me. I pulled out two pairs of pants and the rest went out to the hallway.

I vacuumed everything that could possibly be vacuumed, including the mattress and the window screen. I dusted and I dusted and I dusted. I washed the mattress pad and pillow covers, sheets and pillowcases. I vowed to buy new pillows and wrestled the duvet into its beautiful cover and put a new and better piece of fabric on the poor old worn out loveseat.

I practically have a brand new room.

Ready?

Nothing is styled. I basically finished, took photos and then rushed off to work.

And here we are, the shelves! I am most proud of these.

I pulled out a few toys I've had in storage. That duck on the bike is one of the silliest things ever.

So, there we have it.

One clean and decluttered room, ready for whatever the year may bring.

Boom da da boom.

ETA: I finally got the shelves tidied up and styled. Here they are:

Christmas Decorations Tidied.

I got rid of that red, gold and green chain garland. It just seemed loud and obnoxious to me.

I read Marie Kondo's book, The Magic of Tidying last week.

Ignoring all the odd bits (like objects have feelings and desires), her process for decluttering is helpful.

I decided to keep the Christmas cds with the tree as putting up the tree is the first time we want them.

Pick the object up, ask yourself, "Does this bring me joy?" Then, pay attention. How do you feel? Put it down in the keep pile or the toss pile, depending on your reaction.

The first page in this, my Christmas planner, tells me to buy Christmas cards and wrapping paper.

That is it in a nutshell. There's a procedure for going through your home (Kondo recommends starting with your clothes and then moving on to books and then other things. For obvious reasons, Christmas decorations are not a category.) She also advises you to dump everything you are considering out on the floor in order to force yourself pick up each and every item.

I didn't do that.

The newly emptied outbox is getting filled back up again.

But, I did go through each and every box.

I asked the question.

I got rid of two boxes worth of stuff.

And when I got everything back to its home under the basement stairs, I wondered how they had ever fit in the first place!