Next Phase

As I have mentioned during several of my recent blog posts, during the recent past I have had a nagging, trending, inward momentum towards simplicity that won't go away: it involves the necessity for me to lighten up, and let go of things, literally and figuratively.

The artistic side of me loves to be inspired. I love to have a home that is comfortable and beautiful and welcoming to all who come to visit. I love the challenge of creating a cohesive whole, and presenting room by room as if it were a piece of art to be lived in, to be enjoyed, to be cherished. It begs the question, why do we have the things we do? Why THIS lamp and not that one? Why this piece of art and not something else or a blank wall altogether? Does the burden of caring for, dusting, storing, or moving this THING outweigh the benefit of its functionality or beauty? I have been asking this question about everything.

And it is leading me on a journey of lightening up. I would love love love to have like 30 or 40 pieces of clothing TOPS, and have my whole wardrobe be simple, beautiful, artistic, and work together. I would love to have clean and relatively empty closets holding JUST what I need and nothing more. I would love to have one simple little jewelry box with only my favorite pieces, and find the rest new homes. And though I almost cannot live without books (and dream of a future library in my house), I am learning to let go of those, too - by making a list, so I can remember what I've read, and then donating, giving or loaning the ones that I am likely to not read again. New homes, and a new life for that object!

I think the next phase of my life has some exciting things coming my way - and I want to be able to jump at them, go at any moment, make a life shift if necessary, and "travel light."

Towards these efforts over the past several months, Phil and I have been trying to lighten up (baby steps, mind you!) but have done the following:

1) gotten rid of both our guest bedrooms! we sold the beds, (thank you craigslist!), and even some of the bedding. This gives us better space for home offices, and functional space in our home. We did decide we need at least one guest bed, but this time around we went NATURAL a la Soaring Heart Bed Company (love love love!) here in Seattle. If you are in need of a bed - go visit them!

2) recycled probably 100 lbs of old magazines (how did we get all these?!), saving only the best bits and organizing them into a binder or two.

3) created a yard sale pile (woohooo!)

4) this weekend we will be building a shed in our backyard so that we can combine all of our tools, yard implements and other storage into one location and get rid of Phil's storage unit (saving $160/month!)

5) sold our upstairs sofa, and swapped in our love seat from our bedroom - $450 in our pockets, and now more space in our bedroom and in the family room!

6) we continue to sell things on craigslist and e-bay when we find something we don't need or use.

Admittedly, we have a ways to go - i.e. I could use serious help with my closet (even though I don't have that many clothes). There are still too many. But box by box, closet by closet, bag by donated bag ... we will get there! Hopefully sooner than later, we will be down to just the things we LOVE and USE.

I am excited to read a couple more books in the near future on this topic - one that is written by a power-house on decluttering. And the other, on voluntary simplicity. I will post again if they are helpful. :) In the meanwhile, here is to letting go!