About six months ago I had enough and I slowly made the transition into becoming minimal-ish. Hello, my name is Hannah. I am a recovering shopaholic, sentimental item hoarder, fridge magnet collector, closet stuffer, kitchen gadget enthusiast, and procrastinator. Here is my story.
So there we were sitting at the kitchen table with our realtor discussing the terms of our contract. Starting tomorrow morning our condo would be officially on the market. We knew this day was coming. But, I still couldn't believe the time had finally come that we would have to pack up everything and move. We had bought the place in 2006 when were young and stupid. We had only been married a year and you were getting nudges from everybody we knew that we needed to settle down and buy a place. So we bought a small condo of our very own despite the fact that my husband is in the Navy (meaning frequent relocation), we knew absolutely nothing about real estate, and we knew even less about the responsibilities of homeownership. Six years, a two year old, and way too many possessions later we were selling the place because my husband's inevitable transfer date was a year away.
We were shaking hands with our realtor as she was walking out the door when she said the words that began this journey, "OH! I almost forgot! I need to run to my car and get your key box so we can go ahead and start showing your condo." Oh crap. I had completely forgot about that part. We had to let people in here. Strangers. People who could potentially buy our place. People who could judge us. I was immediately struck with panic. We had to get this place "show ready" and fast.
At first glance our little condo really wasn't in too bad of shape...as long as you didn't open a closet, a cabinet, a drawer, or look under a bed. Despite the fact we lived in a condo that was a little over 800 square feet we had enough stuff in there to fill a home twice that size AND we had a storage unit that was bursting at the seams with even more of our junk. So we began the process of getting the place ready to show. In two days at feverish pace we packed up some of the excess and moved it to our cramped storage unit. Ahhh....much better. I could open a kitchen drawer without getting maimed by unknown sharp objects. I could actually find things in my closet. Our daughter's room wasn't exploding with toys she never played with. I was inspired.
By the grace of God and our amazing realtor we had a received an offer and we were ready to close in a little less than two months. Another harsh reality hit me: we. had. to. pack. everything. EVERYTHING. It all had to go. Then it had to be unpacked and organized in our new place. Oh crap again. We had done our fair share of moving all the excess from our condo to our storage unit. But I realized we were moving a good 25 miles on the other side of town and we needed to move all the junk out of our storage unit too. The time had come that we needed to stop just shuffling our stuff around...it needed to go.
The task of actually ridding our home of the stuff we didn't need began. It was the most liberating feeling ever. Nine suits from my days as a banker that I had been holding on to for some unknown reason? Gone. Seventeen coffee cups that we were keeping just in case we decided to cram seventeen friends into our tiny kitchen for coffee? Gone. A bookshelf full of books that neither of us had any intention of reading again? Gone. Six extra mixing bowls? Three sets of measuring spoons? A dozen pairs of shoes? Eight towels? Seven sets of queen sized sheets? Gone, gone, gone, gone, and gone. I had never felt so free. The very thought of not having to unpack and deal with all of this stuff we didn't need made me giddy. I didn't want this feeling to end.
At first I didn't know that there was a name for what my goal was. I just knew I wanted all of the excess stuff that was taking my attention away from more important things in my life gone. A couple months later I read somewhere about minimalism. There are all kinds of different ways to define minimalism but my hands down favorite is quote by William Morris. He says, "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." I am very slowly making my way towards this goal. It's a long slow process. Will I be there next month? No way. Will I be there six months from now? Probably not. A year from now? We'll see. The thing about minimalism is it must be maintained. It really is a lifestyle choice. All this effort could go to waste if we don't change our ways and stop bringing stuff into our home. So this will be an ongoing battle that I am determined not to lose. Some days when I open a box that is crammed full of our belongings it seems impossible. A lot of days I get discouraged. There is something my mother always says that has started to inspire me: "One bite of the elephant at time." She says this any time she is referring to dealing with stressful event, life change, or project. Something may seem overwhelming and out of reach but if you just take it as it comes, one little bite at time, you can be triumphant. So that's my goal. Piece by piece and project by project I will reach my goal. One bite of the elephant at a time.
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