I am far from a minimalist and I really do derive great comfort from my home and my belongings. Creating a home, to me, is all about being surrounded by things that are meaningful and beautiful to the people who live there.
There comes a point, however, when things can outlast their usefulness or meaning. I’ve done sweeps through the house more and more often lately, sometimes in anger at all the clutter, and I end up donating or giving items to people who can use them more than we can. Freecycle is great for finding someone local who might love to have that half-full bottle of expensive shampoo your daughter is sure doesn’t smell good on you (ahem). Animal shelters need blankets and towels. There are many places that take old eyeglasses and distribute them to people in developing countries.
The goal for this month is to clear some part of your home and reclaim a feeling of spaciousness – the ability to let your eyes rest on empty space. Calm. Empty and serene.
It’s about clutter but it’s also about our time. We can spend a lot of time on our little knickknacks. Have you ever thought about how much time you spend moving items around, dusting them, thinking about them? I am way too busy to waste even a few seconds on the same little thing week after week. Being disorganized or having a lot of physical clutter really does affect your ability to get things done. Which of your things are you willing to spend time on and which are you not? Walk through a room with a box and fill it with all the stuff you don’t use or care about anymore. No judgements allowed, but do imagine how great you will feel afterwards.
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An opportunity to pare down came up this past month when a missionary family was being sent to Houston from South Sudan. Long story short, they left in great haste with only the clothes on their back and were in need of everything that goes into making a new home.
My daughter would have an absolute melt down if she saw that I gave away some of her old toys, but the playroom was getting a bit ridiculous. It’s shocking to me that we can live in such (relative) luxury when there are kids who would love to have even one doll. We haven’t used/played with these items in ages so I felt great giving them to people who will get lots of enjoyment from them.
In addition to toys, I gave the family my extra pots and pans, shelves, shampoo, pillows, picture frames – all things not being used by us and taking up space. Now my daughter’s playroom feels lovely to spend time in and she can better see what she has to play with.
Here are some photos of the rental house:
I was imagining this family with three young kids coming to this house that a church has rented for them, being unfamiliar with the city, the people, and their surroundings. How scary! They do challenging work, dedicating their lives to making the world better. I wanted to help make their new surroundings home-like for them.
I also wanted to show my daughter how fortunate she is. So I took her over to the house to help me hang some of my photography prints on the bare walls. Big mistake. She usually doesn’t notice when something is missing if it disappears when she’s not around. This time, my daughter 1) noticed that they have the same doll houses that she has (ahem), among other things and 2) has asked me so many times where her doll houses are and I had evaded the question an equal number of times that I chose to secretly buy her a new one… exactly the same one she had and really didn’t play with before. (It wasn’t right for me to decide to give it away without asking her, and I didn’t want to suffer the effects of her anger.) This story has a happy ending: now she plays with her doll house every single day, imagining scenarios for the little family inside and making play dough food for them.
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Remember, as long as we cling to old stuff we don’t have the space for new stuff, whether experiences or belongings or energy. 🙂
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Please let us all know in the comments what you’re up to this month! Have fun with it. 🙂
If you have ideas for other monthly prompts in the Soulful Home series, I’m all ears.
Hi Naomi:
This is a wonderful post. Your last sentence is key- and the quote at the beginning is great! Love how you make a point of turning thought into action and how you consciously move through life with such purpose.
Amy Kathleen Kelsch recently posted…The Ultimate Gift Guide for Dads
I try! Sometimes I overthink things, but lately I’m trying to feel my way through situations, and that has helped guide me toward the most appropriate path. Thank you so much for visiting, Amy!
this is a wonderful reminder to share what we have with others. I love that you gave your daughter a new playhouse, I learned not to donate my daugher’s stuff without asking, even though my daughters were happy to donate if asked! I too have had to replace some decluttered items….
Well thank goodness I’m not alone in this!
Nice article. As I have learned about the laws of prosperity – I learn that as we make space (giving up clutter) we create an open space for the wonderful new things that the universe has in store for us 🙂
Rebecca recently posted…Getting More Sales From Your Website
That is so true, Rebecca. I think we only use about 20% of what we have around us anyway, so why not release that other 80%?
Sometimes it does take almost/actually losing something to realize how much we actually care about it. There are things I look at perhaps once a year at best, but when I need to see them, I do need to see them and I would not appreciate it if someone tossed them because I wasn’t currently using them. I had to severely declutter a couple of years ago, and I am still finding myself missing items that had to go.
SKJAM! recently posted…TV Review: Decoy | The Shadow
Scott, thank you for visiting! That’s such an interesting point… some of our things are tucked away for those special times when we really do need them. I’m glad you wrote that.
Hi Naomi,
I am glad that you are doing more of these decluttering posts. I like them! I also loved your cute story of the dollhouse. I don’t use Freecycle, but might take another peek at it and see if it works in this area. It would be fun for our stuff to be useful to someone else. I often donate to Goodwill, but one thing a friend once suggested was to consider each charity for what they do rather than what is convenient. This idea of a church creating a home for a family and your giving them your prints is just fantastic. Love it!
Amy Putkonen recently posted…I Ching Hexagram #7: Armies
It DOES seem to be an ongoing process for me and a lot of people. 🙂
I am sending you a hug for being an adorable mom (re: the doll house situation).
Thank you!
This is a very timely post for me to read as we are trying to declutter prior to moving.
That is the best time to do it. I thought I’d done a good job paring down our things before moving, but I’d only just begun. 🙂