What do you think of when you hear the word "minimalism"?  I don't  recall hearing it in the past, until I happened upon an article, and there, I nestled down comfy. I realized I have been on a journey toward that for years.

Before you get concerned that you will come and find my house stripped down, don't worry. I have learned I am actually NOT a minimalist, but rather have been hovering several steps away and loving

 

 {SIMPLE}

SIMPLICITY--- Its my word for the year. Doesn't it sound quiet? Peaceful?  I have found it to be .. but as it is in everything, I am on a journey. There are extremes for everything in life, it seems. So I pray God will continue to show me what He wants this to look like for me, for us and our family.

I ask myself.. how did I start down this road? I used to love picking up free, cheap,  and STUFF wherever I found it.

I think I can pinpoint one way. We started traveling in and out of Haiti, and everytime I came back I felt the need to purge. ( at that point, it was more like, rearrange aka organize, my things.) I think seeing how little some people live with, and realizing we did without all our stuff while we were away, and we didn't even need it, woke me up.

"If you have to buy more stuff to organize your stuff, maybe you have to much stuff"-Courtney carver

" Anything you cannot relinquish when it has outlived its usefulness possesses you, and in this materialistic age a great many of us are possessed by our possessions." -Peace Pilgrim

“Owning less is far more beneficial than organizing more.”

At its heart, organizing is simply rearranging. And though we may find storage solutions today, we are quickly forced to find new ones as early as tomorrow. Additionally, organizing our stuff (without removing it) has some other major shortcomings that are rarely considered

 It doesn’t benefit anyone else. The possessions we rarely use sit on shelves in our basements, attics, and garages… even while some of our closest friends desperately need them.

It doesn’t solve our debt problems. It never addresses the underlying issue that we just buy too much stuff. In fact, many times, the act of rearranging our stuff even costs us more as we purchase containers, storage units, or larger homes to house it.It doesn’t turn back our desire for more. The simple act of organizing our things into boxes, plastic bins, or extra closets doesn’t turn back our desire to purchase more things.  The culture-driven inclination to find happiness in our possessions is rarely thwarted in any way through the process.It doesn’t force us to evaluate our lives. While rearranging our stuff may cause us to look at each of our possessions, it does not force us to evaluate them—especially if we are just putting them in boxes and closing the lids. On the other hand, removing possessions from our home forces questions of passion, values, and what’s truly most important to us.It accomplishes little in paving the way for other changes. Organizing may provide a temporary lift to our attitude. It clears a room and subsequently clears our mind, but rarely paves the way for healthy, major lifestyle changes. Our house is too small, our income is too little, and we still can’t find enough time in the day. We may have rearranged our stuff… but not our lives. ( I'm sorry I don't recall the source for this)

So I started not just organizing, but de-cluttering and (post yard sale) we will DE-OWN. The shelves that held things I didn't even use, for years, are happy, empty, quiet spaces in my house now. Simplifying to what I LOVE, and USE,  blanketed with  learning contentment is turning out to be a precious blessing. I believe many of us have bought into the lie that owning the newest, latest, (and sometimes its not just the newest and latest, but simply MORE THINGS and LOTS OF THINGS)  will make us happy, and nothing could be further from the truth.  

This journey is impacted by several other things that I am sure I will share here, sometime. Until then, what imput do you have? I'd love to hear from you:)