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.

Just because you stop bringing things into your house, doesn't mean your kids do!

We are choosing to kick this into high gear at a funny time. We didn't know I'd get so sick, so that's slowed progress (but hey, even slow progress is progress), and also Christmas time. Christmas time also means our children are bringing ALL kinds of things home. And, we're supposed to provide all kinds of things for each of their classes. Oh boy! That was a tough one, because although we are trying to live a minimalist lifestyle, it doesn't mean everyone else is, nor will everyone understand the desire to live that way. And that's totally fine.

So, we made gifts for one of our sons class, and for all their teachers, and bus drivers. We didn't get any fancy bags, but instead used the wrapping paper we had already. So that was partially going along with the lifestyle we want to live. But then came all the things they brought from their school parties and such. Ornaments, decorations, papers, gifts, JUNK FOOD. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.

Some of the ornaments went on the tree. Others, yes, we threw them away. With 3 kids, if we kept every single thing they ever made, or brought home, we'd probably have to buy a storage unit to put it all in! Also, I think back to when I became an adult, and my mom showed me all the stuff from my school days. It was neat, but a lot of the stuff, I honestly didn't care about. Certain things, absolutely. But I didn't need to see every finger painting I ever did, and the things like it. So, a lot of their papers went into the trash. We've kept special things, and what I do is laminate them, and stick them in their school album I have for each of them.

A lot of the little cheap toys and stuff, trash. Yes, I know, it sounds terrible. But honestly, they'll get broken anyway, and they had so much stuff they never noticed anything was missing. The candy, after break, whatever is left over, trash. I suspect after Christmas, we'll really be able to kick this back into high gear, without anymore hiccups. Till Valentines day ;)