I’ve always enjoyed reading other people’s stories on their journey towards simplicity. They tend to inspire me and encourage me in my own journey. That is my hope with this post. That I can encourage you on your own journey towards simplicity and share a little bit of my own heart with you.
So if you would like to read a bit more, I’ll start at the beginning 🙂
Growing Up
When my kids were little, we would always say that Grandma was very fancy. This is because my mom has always loved anything and everything sparkly. So much so, that glitter and lots of gold jewelry were her trademarks. She was the type of woman that was always very put together.
As a young child, I grew up in a home where the decor reflected my mom’s love for sparkle and fancy. Our home was filled with a large variety of various trinkets, candles, and all things sparkly.
Well, of course, it was my job to clean the living room, where most of my mom’s collection was placed. Let me tell you, I complained all the time about having to clean and dust around all the nicknacks.
I despised having to dust all that stuff so much that I regularly declared that I would never have so much stuff in my own house.
When I finally moved out on my own, like most recent college graduates, I kept my decor to a minimum. Yep, I was true to my commitment not to have a house filled with stuff everywhere!
The Accumulation of Stuff
Fast forward, I am now married, have two children, and a full-time career. In addition, I am also involved with lots of church activities, as well as most of my children’s activities. Sports, music lessons, parties, school activities, they were doing it all.
At this point, both my home and my schedule have amassed quite a collection. However, I’ve always been a fairly organized person so things don’t look too bad. After all, I am spending quite a bit of time decluttering and keeping things together.
By now I have a regular cleaning routine, but because of all the stuff, it doesn’t take long for the house to feel messy. The garage is full, my husband’s motorcycle is parked in the garage, but there is no room for our cars. Not a big deal, we have plenty of street parking.
After living in our home for many years, news arrives that we are going to have to make a move. I have four months to pack up everything. Four months is a lot of time, this shouldn’t be too bad, I tell myself. I am confident that the move will be fairly simple.
For the next four months, I take my time packing things up. Surprised at how much we really have accumulated, I start decluttering as I go along. This resulted in getting rid of quite a bit of stuff!
Moving day approaches and I am feeling really good, in fact, I am still confident the move will be a simple move. After all, I have had a lot of time to pack and I have gotten rid of tons of stuff.
Reality Sets In
As you may have guessed by this point, my simple easy move was a complete nightmare and I am not exaggerating. It literally took up two full weeks to complete the move and we had a ton of help.
In case you are wondering what happened….. TOO MUCH STUFF. I am not kidding, our move turned into a two-week-long project. Every time I thought we were almost done, more stuff seemed to magically appear.
By the end of our move, I was both physically and emotionally exhausted.
Once we got everything moved to the new place, I continued decluttering even more stuff as I unpacked. We were also able to finally empty the storage we had been paying for. Yes, on top of everything else we had separate storage.
While in some way this may have been the beginning of my journey toward simplicity, there is I am afraid a little more to the story. One year later we were set to move back to our home. With the storage now empty and more items decluttered, I was very thankful the move would be much easier. NOT.
It honestly took another full week of moving. I kept asking myself how is it possible that we still have this much stuff.
It got to the point that by day number five, I was so exhausted and frustrated that I began leaving valuable items in the alley just to avoid moving them. I am talking antique solid maple beds and dressers, amongst many other items. I knew something seriously needed to change!
A Change In Thinking
One thing that did become very clear as a result of these moves, was that I was able to very quickly and in a very real way, see the burden and stress created by the accumulation of unnecessary stuff. I was done and wanted to get rid of everything.
There was one problem, however, my husband did not share my desire to purge. While I personally was tired of being weighed down by all our stuff I did not know how to make a change without my husband being on board?
This is really when my journey toward simplicity began. One of the first things I did was to read tons of articles on minimalism and simple living. With each new article, I became more and more interested in pursuing simplicity in my home and life.
What piqued my interest the most was discovering that minimalism and simple living lifestyle is different for everyone. Minimalism and simplicity are not about white walls and the bare essentials, but it is about intentionality. Seeking simplicity is simply about being purposeful with what you bring into your life.
While seeking to simplify your life is about so much more than your possessions, the truth remains that when we allow excess in our homes we become slaves to those possessions. Excess possessions, create excess stress and takes an excessive amount of our time and finances. I saw the truth of this, first hand.
Journey Toward Simplicity
Journey Toward SimplicityWith all I was learning about minimalism and simplifying my life, I was excited to start my journey towards simplicity. I knew that with my husband not being on board, I could not downsize everything, but I could simplify my own possessions and schedule.
Now, at this point, I don’t call myself a minimalist. Perhaps it is just a matter of semantics and my own personal associations with the word. Minimalist is a title that I associate with possessions. I don’t want to be defined by my possessions, either the excess of or lack thereof.
If you look up the word minimalist in the dictionary, it is defined as being or offering no more than what is required or essential. This not what I am seeking. I love the personal touches in my home, family photos, candles, and diffusers add a warm and cozy feeling.
Now I do realize today, a minimalist has come to mean something very different from the dictionary definition. In fact, most would say that it means different things to different people and it looks different for each person.
The Minimalists.com defines minimalism as a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what’s important—so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom.
This is the popular definition among those calling themselves minimalists. The truth is I really like this definition. Following this definition, I would indeed refer to myself as one seeking to live a minimalist lifestyle.
Nevertheless, for now, if I give myself a title, I want it to be a follower of Jesus, a wife and, a mom, those are the things that define my life and my values.
Today
Today, I seek to pursue a simpler lifestyle, I am purposeful of what I allow in my home and in my life. I want to rid my life of the excess that interferes with what is truly important to me.
I am finding that it is not easy to change a lifetime of habits. My husband still does not share my desire to simplify all the things, so I plan to take my time, and do what I can, this will be a lifelong journey. My focus is on seeking less, so that I may have more, more of what truly brings value, not just to my life, but to the life of those around me. Choices that will help each day to be my favorite day.
Sebe says
Moving to Germany to live with my husband in a small apartment in comparison to my mom’s large home made me realise I truly need to keep things minimal….
As a lover of Jesus myself I agree with your sentiments about having items occupy your thoughts and take so much of your time….that is not pleasant.
I now declutter every 6 months…hubby isn’t entirely on board yet but he tried when he had to make a bit of space for me in the wardrobe. Now we want a revamp of the bedroom with extra cupboard space for me. It will be interesting to see how easy each section looks😁
Amanda says
I feel exactly the same , the hardest part for me was
My sentimental items , but then as I read blogs about
This I uickly realised that they r simply ‘things’ and
My memories of my lovely Mum are still with me
And always will be! It’s a hard but worthwhile journey
And amazing how friends and family quickly pop on the
Same boat lol! I’m sure your hubby will be onboard very soon , mine has just started when he realised how he
Could make some money from selling his unwanted
Items ! X
Kristal Marie says
Yes Amanda, those sentimental items can be tough. But when we examine the emotions behind them it becomes easier. I think the problem comes when we attach sentiment to everything, when that happens they lose their specialness. I have a couple items that were my Mom’s because they trigger special memories and thoughts of her. Because I only keep a couple items, rather than lots of them, those couple items are very special. I am so glad to hear that your husband is starting to join you on your journey to simple living, that is awesome!
Jessica says
This article really resonates with me. When you were talking about your move, it sounds just like our move that we just did 5 months ago. My husband also does not feel the way I do about excess items. He thinks that if we have room in our house we should keep everything because we might need it some day. I have not pushed him to get rid of his stuff but I have tried to leaf by example with my own stuff. 4 months later he has afmitted to me that we have too much stuff and he has even reduced the clothes in his closet after seeing me reduce mine. So your husband might come around to once he sees the freedom it can bring. Thanks for this!
KristalMarie says
Yes,Jessica moves can be quite revealing 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed the article. Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Veronica Martinez says
I absolutely loved your article! Two major things stood out to me:
1) Like DC mentioned, minimalism and simple living look very differently for each person. It’s only been a little over two weeks since I’ve been more intentional about reading different articles and blog posts about minimalism. Only last week did I start downsizing, beginning with my closet. Already it’s been quite an emotional and, in a sense, a spiritual adventure, but one that is allowing me to work more towards living a minimalist lifestyle rather than just being labeled as a minimalist due to my lack of possessions. Which leads me to my second point…
2) If you were to give yourself a title it would be follower of Jesus. I REALLY love that. I tend to get caught up in today’s trends, especially when it comes to making my life more organized, simple, yet current, that I can easily lose sight of the One whom I’m supposed to truly be following and reflecting in my life: Jesus. At 24, I strive to set patterns and habits in my life that are Christ-like in order to please Him and not the world. Although trends, such us minimalism, aren’t inherently bad in-and-of themselves, I do my best to never forget that, at the end of my life, I want my life to have been one filled with God more than anything or anyone else.
Sorry for the long comment lol Thanks for the great read!
KristalMarie says
Thank you so much Veronica, I am so glad that you enjoyed it. I am so glad that you have started your own minimalist journey, . it is amazing the emotional attachment we discover that we had to our stuff. I experienced the same thing. I am also right there with you in wanting my life filled with God more then anything or anyone. Thanks so much for taking the time to write such a nice comment!!
DC @ Young Adult Money says
I like how you pointed out that minimalism and simple living is different for each person. It makes a lot of sense. The “clutter” in one person’s life is going to be different than the other person. For example someone may get 50 daily emails from various media outlets and companies, but someone else may have a different “clutter” issue that they can adjust to live a simpler life.
KristalMarie says
Yes, DC you are so right and this is the best part of minimalism and simple living, it’s about being intentional with your own life and making room for what you value most. Thanks so much for reading and taking the time to comment!
BonnieLee Mangano says
I am a bit older than you so my circumstances differ. Yet the first major “purge” as £ call it occurred in November of 2004.
THE live of my life and father to our blended family of 5 children passed after lonely yet loving year of caregiving at home where he wanted to be. Our children were adults and the youngest two girls were out of state in college but we’re planning to live with their boyfriends after education was completed. AS they di and remain to this day.
26 years of accumulled STUFF from children, animals, my beloved husband as well as my love for everything Country and OLD………..??? Antiques . Our 8 room 1.5 bath, enormous attic 2 car garage , a large carpot, 3.5 acres and a small barn, we’re filled with so much STUFF. At the time I was a collector of country decor, geese, ducks, roosters, Americana, Raggedy Annes, Antique furniture, ice box, hutches, dry sink,lamps ,tables, precio us moments and each room had a theme.
A sleigh and antique milk buggy were on the lawn and decorated for each holiday and season. New Enland suburbs of ciarse.
I had acres of gardens and koi pond, boarded horses, had rabbits in a hutche, two large fish tanks, snake terrarium, bearded drago, and 2 dogs…Bijon and Shepherd.
Furniture in attic if garage and years of every size clothing that had nit been passed on as well as items the children wanted to keep….key bosrds, full drum sets to name a few.
It took me a year and 3 dumpsters to get rid of what no one would claim or remove plus a 3 day estate sale downsize and move to a tiny town home in Florida. I kept a roll top desk….first peice of furnitue my husband bought me and a chaise that my husband used to rest on. Along with my new car and the basic necessities along with photographs and special moments from my family I started over.
After living alone and having no one to blame but myself I accumulated more than I needed. Not an enormous excess but once again I wanted less stuff and more tI’m to live.
I give most items to charities and women with children in residential treatment .
The one constant has always been I am extremely organized and a cleaning freak. AT one point in my life we had a house keeper. She hated cleaning my home, the home I cleaned before she came, because she had to dust and work around all our neatly arranged belongings.
Niw I spend most of my time trying to figure out how to have the most floor space and comfortable seating . I keep things that I love no matter the color size or design because I want to surround myself with things that make me happy. WHEN I am happy others around me benifit the most.
I current remove at least 2 major items a month for either donation
or bulk pick up. And take clothes to get rid of werkly. Every time I deep clean I get rid of more.
I still love to garden and have all the supplies I need but only one of every item. Getting rid of duplicates throughout the home really does help.
I have a supply of art materials in almost every medium. That is all neetly arranged in baskets and neatly on shelves .
To day I live a life of simple abundance with my maltese Tiffany.
Thankyou for your article it made me realize how far I have come and how content and dulled I am with my life
I now have 8 Grandchildren and my down sized life style allows me the ability to go and visit them and enjoy life clutter free.
KristalMarie says
Bonnie, thank so you much for sharing your story! What an encouragement, you are the perfect example that it is never to late to simplify and receive the benefits. I love that you keep the things you love and make you happy, that is what simple living is all about, having those things that bring you joy and letting go of those things that weigh us down.