Another view of our new lifestyle

Hey everybody, This is Danny (the husband). This is my first post on here, and I'm told it won't be my last. We just wanted to get another point of view on this minimalism thing we're trying out. My point of view is a little bit different than Stacey's. I think that's why we work together so well. It may also be why we butt heads sometimes...

I have to say, I was less than thrilled when Stacey mentioned minimalism. I thought "oh great, lets just get rid of all the stuff we spent so long collecting". Then as she started, and I started watching, I started thinking. She had me read a few posts on another minimalist blog, and it started to click with me too. We won't ever be a "true minimalist" family, but we can surely minimize our "stuff".

Today I went through my nightstand. I filled an entire small garbage basket with "stuff". I had old papers from our move, receipts, copies of deployment orders, books, medals, flashlights, and even sandpaper. Why did I have sandpaper in my nightstand? Beats me. So I trashed the trash, reorganized what I actually want in there, moved what didn't belong in there, and made a ton more room. The top became a catch all and an eye sore. Now it's functional and looks much better with just my watch case on display. 

We also cleaned out our linen closet. We found expired OTC meds, duplicate meds, and even empty boxes of meds we've used. So we gutted it completely, cleaned all the shelves, and chose more wisely what we put in there. We have our towels, face cloths, meds up high, and spare paper towels. We consolidated the meds, keeping only what we really needed, allergy and children's cough mostly, and some toiletries. Again we filled an entire small garbage basket.

So, seeing all that we've taken out of fairly small areas add up to this much, almost a full kitchen bag, I'm excited to see what we can do with the rest of the house. I may be less than thrilled for us to get to some areas, like the kitchen and my shed, but that's why it's a process. One step at a time. Plus, getting rid of all the "stuff" we don't need, will help us identify what we do need. Not what we WANT, but what we NEED. Then we can focus on quality, not quantity. If we aren't buying so much, we can buy better. Simple math that's escaped my mind for my entire life.

So I guess with that, I'm sold. We can start to live a better life with less, so we can focus on what's really important.