In effort to prepare for Baby #3 to join us in our smaller house, we've been decluttering and rearranging. It's quite a task. 2 years ago we packed up our 3000 sf home in less then 20 days and moved all of our stuff into family and friends' houses... I breathe easier tonight knowing we aren't reliving that time again... it was very rough! A huge part of it being rough was that we had just said goodbye to Nate's father after his 8 month fight with pancreatic cancer. That is an entirely different piece of the story I will write about another time... back on point...
So... we took all of our belongings and squeezed them into other people's spaces and began the decluttering process. We had the opportunity to use a friend's house that was empty and being ready to be sold to store our stuff and have garage sales while deciding what we were really going to keep and what we could sell, give away, or throw away. I would have to look back, but I believe we did 3 weekends of garage sales from that house - one in June and then 2 more in September of 2014 - and it really helped us pair down on some big items. In between all of the garage sales, we also sold things online which helped. We still had stuff... and still do.
In the end, we had to get a storage unit to store extra baby clothes/items, suit cases, our kitchen supplies (since we were living with family for a while), our camping gear, etc. etc. You know... all the stuff that we mostly had in our 1500sf basement that we'd use seasonally. Well... we still have a lot of it and now that baby #3 is going to arrive soon, we had to get some baby stuff out and I am in awe of how much we have. It's a TON! No newborn needs 100 onesies...
To be encouraged to move forward with downsizing and decluttering, I've been watching some youtube channels and this one blows my mind! I'm impressed and wondering if this is how we will end up living someday... our whole goal is to be debt free and have time to experience life together as a family and to be available to serve others... this family's home seems like it would allow for those goals to be achieved. Their channel is called Family Minimalism: Becoming Minimalist with Kids. It's quite extreme, but it's simple living. I feel like the clutter and 'stuff' we have around us reflects some mental and spiritual baggage... or maybe it all just drives me nuts and if I loaded it all up and threw it in the dumpster one day I would seriously feel better about our house. ;) Who knows...
There are many many videos online about how to downsize, reorganize, become minimalists, etc. and this one just impressed me. We have less stuff each month... we are making progress... It's just a process and takes time. It's like we are choosing to live a different way and that change is challenging and time consuming. We'll get 'there' eventually.
Thanks for reading. ~M
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