Stuff!
"Packing and moving is overwhelming." I texted Mr.
Romantic one late August Sunday morning as I was alone at the condo
looking over my stuff. Even though I've gotten rid of many, many, things over
the past year and a half, I still have stuff. And that stuff needed to be moved
out of the condo.
Now that all of that stuff has been moved, Mr. Romantic and
I are working on finding a place for whatever I moved into our home. Two fully
functioning households need to be combined. So far, he’s been excellent in
making room for me in our home, even if that means getting rid of some of his
stuff.
We’ve been deciding together whose stuff to keep. For
example, some of my small appliances (like my food processor and blender) were
better quality than the ones he had, so we kept mine. But most of his pots and
pans were much better quality than mine, so we kept his. However, I did supplement
with a few of mine when he didn't already have something equivalent that I enjoy
using.
Whatever we’ve been getting rid of, we’ve brought to
charity. Boxes and boxes of stuff have already been donated. I'm sure we’ll
have more to give since we’re still working on it. And hopefully things will be
settled sooner rather than later.
What?! It’s been over
a month since you’ve moved and you’re still working on it?! What’s taking you
so long?
Gee you’re a little nosy and excited aren’t you? J
Well, you see, we decided to live these past few months.
Outings and camping and trips were priorities for us. Yes, I still had to take
care of having my stuff moved and put away, but that wasn’t our main focus.
Now as we’re trying to figure out where everything will go,
I realize that there’s still a lot more purging I (we) could do.
I have plans. Of
course you do! I have plans to go through all of my stuff again as I’ve
done in the past. Things have a tendency to creep back into my environment.
Moments of weakness or stress or inattention and BAM! Stuff!
Where are you going to
start? The bedroom, I think. This weekend I’ll go through my vanity again
to make sure I use whatever I’ve kept. If not, out it goes. Then my closet. I’ve
recently bought new clothes that are more suited to my new job, but I haven’t accounted
for that. So I have to make room and get rid of the unnecessary, worn out and unloved.
This minimalist lifestyle is and will always be a work in
progress. Just like with any good habit, you need to maintain it to get the
results you’re striving for.
Ah yes the dreaded re-visit of the "what might stay" pile... I have a room for that, I just don't have space for it. For me the minimalist life is a slow process but getting there, I think I paused for the moment. T-A
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