I somehow stumbled upon this from a friend on Facebook, or maybe it was a suggested page to follow. I really don't know. All that I do know is it has really made me think. I've been reading this page, usually scattered posts, but then I found their 21 days to minimalism article series that really spoke to me.
I wouldn't say that I will absolutely follow their journey to the T, but it made me think about what my priorities are and what really is necessary in my life. I've recently moved in with my girlfriend after graduating with my BA and it's been interesting finding our groove.
She has her things set in their place and doesn't like a lot of clutter around the house, which is perfectly fine with me, I love it when things have their spot. But this provides what a conundrum for me when trying to move in.
When I moved back from college, I sold all my furniture and got rid of stuff I knew I didn't need, the other stuff was packed up and taken to my parent's house. Since I didn't start work for about a week after I arrived back into town, I took that time to make my room at my parent's place organized and clean it up, getting rid of stuff that I didn't need. It was a mess!
I'd been away at college for three years, and my parents partly took over my room, whether it was to house my 3 year old nephew for the night, or just to store Christmas decorations in my closet, to some capacity it was out of my control what happened. Then I didn't help, over the past year, I'd been moving stuff back, I drive a Ford Focus, which doesn't move much stuff at once, so I took what I could back each time. Then the last couple weeks of school, I would take one or two trips each weekend full of stuff that I THOUGHT was necessary and that I couldn't live without…
Yeah, I was wrong. As I started cleaning the room at my parent's, I started to see more and more stuff I would never use, whether it be because I haven't done that activity in years, or only did it once, or maybe it was sentimental and I couldn't bear to part with it, now, this was maybe a month between the first time I'd sorted, and I'd already changed my mind on what was and wasn't important to keep!
That is still mind boggling that my views on material items would change so fast. Well, as I was saying, I moved in with my girlfriend, and so far, this is what has made it to her house, I guess I can start calling it "ours":
- clothes, and I just mean a portion of them, about 15-20 t-shirts, 5 flannel shirts, 5 dress shirts, 5 hoodies, 5 pants, 7 shorts (because it is getting summer time), 4 pj bottoms, 5 night shirts (AKA old t-shirts I don't wear during the day), and 5 pairs of shoes (work, dress, casual, work out, and flip flops);
- security box for money and other personal paperwork;
- clothes basket, for the obvious, dirty clothes, haha!;
- my hiking boots and hydration pack (we love hiking!)
- and finally, the stuff I hall to work and back almost everyday which is my laptop, files of bills, and a notebook with information like budgeting for trips and what I can spend each month, etc.
And that's pretty much it, whereas at my parent's, there is still a ton of stuff! It looks organized with its places and whatnot, but now that I know what I can and can't live without, especially on a day to day basis. This blog and their writings have really taught me that I don't need the stuff at my parent's and I hate knowing that I have stuff there when I live somewhere else. I will probably leave books and sentimental stuff there, because my mom and I share the books, and the sentimental stuff I can't part with, but to be fair, there are like a total of 10 small things that I consider something that I'll never be able to throw away, but until we get more room at my girlfriend's place, that stuff will have to keep at my parent's.
The sentimental stuff is the only part where I differ with this blogger's ideas, he believes that getting rid of sentimental things is actually the best for you. Which part of me understands, but since I don't keep that many items that have that "need to keep" feeling, I don't think I have a problem with it.
My favorite part about this blog and what they explain about minimalism is the fact that it isn't exactly the same for everyone and it isn't meant to be… this isn't for someone who needs strict directions, it's for someone who can think through what they want to do and can make active choices and go beyond what others have done, figure out stuff on their own.
I'm sure I'll be posting more on the subject on a later date...
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