Oversized homes, oversized cars.. oversized lives.. overflowing…

The Reality: Clutter does not happen over night, it creeps up on you. We find new storage solutions to pack more in, we find more storage options to hide things, we find more crevices to pack things into, and soon we have no clue it is even there anymore.

The Sickness: The excess is simply a form of illness or insanity in its physical form. Clutter/hoarding often is related to some personal issue, filling the void, filling some need.. So much of the stuff we accumulate is because we can not let go, we are afraid to let go.. maybe something or someone we never had or lost along the way. We hold on to them with items somehow connected to that person, or memory, or place… maybe it is some where we would rather be, some point in life we wish we could return to.

Some people are lucky enough to not have any of those past demons, and can let go. Some of us it takes time to reach that point of being at peace and getting rid of stuff ,.. then there are those who are denial, and others who will never come to terms with that demon.

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My lifelong inspiration.. My oldest Aunt, an amazing woman. She has a tiny ranch home with no basement, it was built just after World War II, so typical post-war housing. The rooms were tiny, the kitchen even tinier It has 3 bedrooms and one bath. Yet in this home she housed her own family, plus at any given time.. her siblings & their families, her elder relatives, her grandkids, and anyone else who needed shelter. Her home of over 50 years old (which she still lives in), it impeccably maintained, it looks like time stood still since the styling and decor have not changed in over a 1/2 century, but everything looks brand new in condition. Again think about all the people who lived there, all the kids.. and yet everything is still perfect! She is very much a minimalist, she does not believe in storing or keeping anything she can not use. She has things labeled in a tiny closet, if she does not know the contents of the box, or it has not be used in a month.. it goes away.

Now I do not think I could be as extreme as she is, but I would like to get closer to her way of life. I would like to not have clutter, and so much stuff. I would like to not have a pile of boxes that honestly I have no idea what is in them anymore. I do not want to have anything we can not use. I do not want to store things anymore.

My Wake up: Part of my desire to de-clutter, was inspired by moving across the country 5 years ago.. there was so much stuff I did not get rid of before hand, and it just traveled with us. So much of it resides in the same boxes in our basement. UGH.. it is embarrassing, frustrating, and overwhelming!

My Plan: My main project lately has been to clear out.. to thin out the junk, the excess. Quite a mountain to scale! So yes, I do have those clutter demons.

We have talked about the next possible move.. and one of my plans is to basically start as though we are moving.. clear things out, get rid of the junk.. get this place ready as though we were selling it. And it does not matter if we don’t move for 2-3 years or 20 years..  this is just something that needs to be done, and sooner the better!

I refuse to have to choose a home to fit my “stuff”.. I do not want to base a home on how much it can store. I want to look at how well we can live, with out all the ‘”stuff”.

It will take steps for me to achieve this. First is to get rid of excess clothes, the stuff I never wear, never will wear. Next I will sell or donate any items that are in my way that do not need to be here. Then I will go through the boxes not opened for several years, and find new homes for things we do not want or need. It will take allot of time.. but the result will surely feel so much better… I am sure we have a basement under this house!

And this all was a motivation even before the economic issues, which is now influencing more people to opt for less.

Society & Reflections:  Look back in time.. Look at the size of houses. Look at the difference in family size for those time periods. Homes keep getting bigger, yet families keep getting smaller. Even technology aids in saving space, thinner TV’s, more streamline appliances, thinner insulation, etc. So what is the need for the extra square footage? The only thing I can see is merely status.

I love to watch home shows, be it selling, buying, redecorating, renovating, etc. One of the things that has me dying of laughter is when a homebuyer complains they do not have enough space, not enough storage, want/need a bigger place.

On many of the home shows, a great gripe is over bedroom size. Since when does a bedroom need really anything more than a bed? So the extreme size of bedrooms is simply obnoxious and ridiculous to me.

And there are other issues I have with various home shows like the MUST for “open floor plans”, the MUST for granite counters, the MUST for stainless steel appliances, and all the other over the top MUSTs! This gluttony is part of society’s major ailment, the source of so many of its issues.. the reason two parents MUST work, yet send their kids off to day care. Now how many times does the day care cost more or nearly the same as the income gained by a two parent household, and the loss for the child of having interaction with their parents? Again sorry.. just another discussion all together, but just I felt compelled to throw out there.

It does make me wonder about the oversized houses that were popping up like crazy, especially during the 1990s. What will happen? If people start choosing reasonably sized homes, will the value of the mammoth houses be affected? Remember how small houses had their value affected because people did not want houses that small? I can see the same scenario with the oversized houses. Now the focus has shifted to these smaller homes, they have “charm”, they are more affordable, they are more livable, they are more realistic. For the interim, there are people who still think they need the BIG houses, some who want the status symbol, and those who can not let go of their “stuff”.

PS: I saw a great post by Stormbringer who obviously is confronting his own clutter demons . We are obviously not alone.. we’re in very good company. Here are some highlights from his post…

Stand back, willya? I’m throwing things. All this crap in a rental storage unit, in closets and other places — why? It seemed like a good idea each time I got something. Or it was a gift and I don’t want to admit that I didn’t want it anymore, so it got put away.

Sheesh, look at this! Badges from the Soviet Army. Comic books (probably worth something if I know how to sell them…hmmm, Death of Phoenix). Books in the "Doctor Who" series. Things that came to me from my departed parents that I can’t get rid of yet. Other odds and ends. Most of it is crap! Having all this crap does not improve my soul, does it? Nope.

He talks about simplifying his life, cleaning up the loose ends. This is what so many of us really need to do. We do not need so much stuff. He also lead me to another site that was viewing a minimalist life…

The Art of Manliness check out his post in full, it is fantastic!

A minimalist values quality, not quantity, in all forms.

At the end of my life what would my children and their children find as they searched through my belongings?  Boxes upon boxes of useless crap, once trendy and exciting, now just a burden to be thrown out?  Or a few heart-felt belongings to be passed down through generations?  Not things by which to be held captive, but meaningful items to be used, enjoyed and eventually passed on to someone else.

So, you ask, is throwing away a few old books or t-shirts every once and in awhile all it means to be a minimalist?  Hardly. While decluttering your life is a great place to start, minimalism is about changing one’s whole approach to life and opting out of the race to accumulate more.  Advertising convinces us of needs we didn’t know existed and exploits our emptiness by promising fulfillment for a few easy payments of $19.99.  The shopping mall has become our temple, the credit card our burnt offering…yet, the sacrifice is never sufficient for salvation.  Being a minimalist means one simply quits buying in.  The following are the principles of living the minimalist life as laid out by Babauta:

Leo’s Principles of Living the Minimalist Life

1.  Omit needless things. Notice this doesn’t say to omit everything.  Just needless things.

2.  Identify the essential. What’s most important to you?  What makes you happy?  What will have the highest impact on your life, your career?

3. Make everything count. Whatever you do or keep in your life, make it worthy of keeping.  Make it really count.

4.  Fill your life with joy. Don’t just empty your life.  Put something wonderful in it.

5.  Edit, edit.  Minimalism isn’t an end point.  It’s a constant process of editing, revisiting, editing some more.

I would add the following:

6.  Hold on loosely. Even to your prized possessions.  At the end of the day its relationships, not possessions, that make life worth living.

It’s simple, not easy.  But the rewards of digging into the minimalist life are there for anyone willing to take a few small steps each day.  Of course, most will choose to continue their present habits, but as for me and my house, we’ve chosen a life of less…and in doing so have gained so much more.

Even if you are not opting for a minimalist life style.. this does offer excellent guidelines for life & living. The main idea to remember and use… Quality over Quantity!

I would love to hear other’s issues with the clutter demon.. and what you are doing to simplify and make your life sane again.

Stormbringer’s Thunder: Crap

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