The Burden of Things (The Problem)
I have always enjoyed my things. When I was growing up, I discovered the joys of thrift store shopping and continuously added more and more stuffed animals to my "family." My dad and I made an Excel spreadsheet of all my "kids" including their names, a description, and where I bought them, and we discovered I had almost 300 stuffed animals! I also enjoyed making crafts with recyclables - I made cardboard dollhouses with dozens of rooms and furniture made of cardboard and tape. I had toys in my bedroom and even more toys in my playroom. But even though I had hundreds of stuffed animals and more toys than I could ever play with, I still wanted more.
As I grew older, I still enjoyed buying plushies...as well as purses, messenger bags, scarves, and jewelry. I found myself constantly thinking of ways to rearrange my room to fit one more container or one last piece of furniture. My mother-in-law still remembers the first time she came over to my house (at this point in time, J and I had only recently met, were still in high school, and not dating). I tried to show her something in my closet, but it was so full that items started falling out when I opened the door!
Now, J and I live in a cozy two-bedroom apartment. We turned the entryway/living room into an office area and made the master bedroom into a media room (we made the last room our bedroom). After living with my parents over the summer, we were excited to have a place of our own. We only brought the essentials with us - all of our furniture, clothes, and things fit in the back of a strategically packed pickup truck and a small car. Our parents kindly offered to hold onto the rest of our possessions until we move back. But even though we moved here with only a dozen or so boxes, somehow our things have once again multiplied. Trips to the thrift store have brought back enough books to fill up a five-foot bookshelf; we've had to buy multiple sets of hangers to accommodate my - I mean our - growing collection of clothes; my half-finished art projects are scattered everywhere.
Living Simply (The Solution)
Through the years, the idea of minimalism (living with only the bare essentials - one pot, one pan, a few clothes, etc.) has always fascinated me. My parents used to call me a hoarder, only half-jokingly... We watched the TV show as a family in hopes that maybe I would be willing to give away some of my stuffed animals (I finally did - I only have about 100 now). I used to wonder what would happen if I lost all of my things in a fire - would I be sad, or would I feel relieved that I didn't have the burden of so much "stuff?" When I was in high school, I read the book Money, Possessions, and Eternity by Randy Alcorn, and I started to rethink my lifestyle. I knew that I was materialistic, and it was something J and I have talked a lot about because I don't want to pass my habits on to our children someday. We are also aware that going into ministry, we will be thrilled if we are financially stable, but realize that we may at times have to depend on others for our needs.
While living the true minimalist style is not really feasible for us (we are both terribly sentimental), I recently fell in love with the idea of living simply. For me, this encompasses more than not having hundreds of things - it depicts of a lifestyle that instead of being extravagant or wasteful focuses on spending time investing in people and creating memories together. Instead of chasing after the American dream of getting a better job so we can buy a bigger house and a better car, we will spend our time and energy loving, teaching, and mentoring. (I don't think that the "American dream" is necessarily bad; I just know it isn't something our family is working towards).
Right now, I have a long way to go - for me, the first step to living simply is to start cleaning out things that I don't need. John and I actually love living in a smaller space, and going through the few items we have here will be a good start for eventually going through the rest of the boxes at my parent's house when we finally move back to the area. I'm planning to document the process of living simply in the next few posts - this post focused mainly on the "stuff" aspect, but hopefully future posts will elaborate more on simplicity as a lifestyle.
To close, I'll share my "Reasons to Live Simply" - a list I made to remind myself why I am doing this in the first place.
- We'll have more space
- There will be less clutter (which will make my hubby happy and also make me feel more relaxed and less anxious)
- I won't waste time thinking about my stuff!
- Puts the focus on PEOPLE, not THINGS
- I will buy less things + save money
- We can give away things we don't need
- Create a lifestyle that values memories instead of materials
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