Two days ago I decided to go through papers cluttering up my file cabinets and drawers. I could barely open the drawers and I thought, surely not all this paper is necessary. I had some old, and I mean old, copies of income tax returns. It has taken me a few days of discarding stuff I had been hanging on to, and I have four garbage bags full of shredded paper. What made me think I needed to hang on to papers with the date of 1978 or older?This morning I saw a blurb on Facebook about the minimalists. Two fellows who decided to down size and leave their high paying positions, their electronics, clothing they had not worn in ninety days and now they feel better than ever. They live in a cabin in Montana and do not use their phones as daily and continuously as they did in the past.
In case you want to know more about those authors, Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, you can look them up on the Internet. It seems that decluttering and simplifying makes one live a better life. A quote on the Internet that makes sense: Minimalists don't have less, they have more. More time to do what actually makes them happy or what is important to them.
Somehow, we grow up thinking that the more we have the better our life will be. Will Rogers said:
Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like. I am wondering, when I read that I should do what ever makes me happy and if what I have does not make me happy, that maybe I should become a minimalist.
After seeing how much paper I have accumulated through the years and these few days I have gotten rid of lots of it, maybe, just maybe I have begun the decluttering of my life! As I look around my house, I can see there are many other things I could get rid of and I am seeing another garage sale in my future!
I opened a drawer and found seven bathing suits that I keep hanging on to in hopes that I will look like I did when I bought them. I tried each one on and kept four. If I am to be a minimalist I probably should have gotten rid of all but one (or two) but since I am new at down-sizing, only three went into a bag to give away. Two still had price tags on them. What does that mean? I must have either found a tremendous sale or I had purchased them in hopes of shedding some weight and, guess what, I never got rid of the extra pounds!
"Minimalism is not
that you should
own nothing,
but that nothing
should own you!"
Quote on Pinterest
I want to start this clearing out process as well and I am afraid I could fill many more than four bags full! I sometimes think that I hang on to things out of "laziness"--It takes time and energy to lighten the load! But I don't think we all have to get rid of everything and move to a cabin in Montana. We can just become "more minimal" than we are--
ReplyDeleteI looked them up on the internet--they have written two books on this subject, Jefferson Co.Library has the second one and Denver and other libraries have them both--sound like interesting reads
ReplyDeleteMinimalism seems like an interesting concept. I often want to downsize and I think it’s a great idea to get rid of the clutter. I try to remember not to get rid of stuff just for the sake of getting rid of stuff, though. Less junk is great but it’s ridiculous to get rid of something I might need.
ReplyDeleteMerilyn @ Sanford Company