I mentioned a week or two ago that I was going to baby-step into minimalism. As I've read more about it and pondered which of my things to discard (much is already gone), I've found that minimalism at its most Spartan is not my thing. I was also wondering why, when - in theory - the minimalist life seems so appealing.
As is almost always the case, answers came quickly. Today I received Danielle LaPorte's "White Hot Truth" email. The subject line? The Dark Side of Minimalism. Uh huh, for reals...
In her post, she quotes and links up to another article written by Lianne Raymond with an oh-so-intriguing title: red winkle picker regret and the dark side of decluttering, and Lianne, in turn, links up to another post on Bindu Wile's blog written by Natalie Baker.
I've read all of these articles and feel much better now. I'm only going to get rid of things that are truly taking up space just to be taking up space. Things that I use regularly and those that fill a place in my imagination and/or heart get to stay...
I totally agree with you.. the things that are taking up space that are used and loved will also stay in my home but the things that have not gotten a second look or have been stored for longer than I can even remember.. yes, those will go out into the world so that someone else can get better use of them.. I should have gotten those minimalist books you just purchased, ouch.. that's me kicking myself! Keep updating us on what you are learning as I'm finding it very thought provoking which not only gets me to ask the question.. do I really need this and can I live without it .. but it has also helped me to purge.. I want to breath freely again and not feel so weighted down by "stuff" and slowly but surely I'm getting there! Woohoo!
Posted by: Sherry Dobreski | October 20, 2010 at 08:47 AM
Hey girlie
I just read all the articles you posted. They were all excellent and had equally excellent points. Personally, I have felt that purging just to purge is silly. Keep the things you need and get rid of things that just cost you emotionally. For example: we don't use our Christmas decor for more than the month of Christmas, but I'm a-ok with it stored and packed up under my stairs. AND... we don't use our chocolate fountain, trifle bowl, or a few other kitchen gadgets regularly, but I am a-ok with them being stored in my storage room downstairs. What I am not a-ok with are the boxes of clothes and junk that I need to haul to the DI/Goodwill that are sitting in my spare bedroom amongst a whole lot of other junk that needs to be sold.
I'm the kind of person who doesn't like the excess junk, but I am good with storing things that truly have a purpose and am slowly working on seriously decluttering my life. We are a two person family in a 4+ bedroom house... every room is completely furnished and unfortunately every closet has SOMETHING in it... working on that... It's not junk.. it's things that HAVE had a purpose in our life at some point over the past 11 years++ but are things we haven't gotten rid of yet, which is quickly changing. YAY!
I sooooo love the feeling of freedom I have when I have clean spaces and junk that is not accumulating, but I am not going to be a minimalist just to be a minimalist. There's an article out on the web called "The HIdden Cost Of Too Much Stuff"... I LOVE IT. Here's a link to it:http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/savinganddebt/p43217.asp
This past weekend we hauled 580 lbs of junk/crap/schtuff from a loved one's kitchen area in a relatively small trailer house. It hit home to me that we just needed to get our boxes of donations TO the donation places asap. I will not become a hoarder!! LOL!
Love your posts lately! Let's be decluttering buddies!
Mwah!
E.
Posted by: Erin Grotegut | October 20, 2010 at 09:29 AM