If you have followed me for any length of time you know that I absolutely do not subscribe to the thinking that you need bare walls, perfectly styled furniture or to know exactly the amount of items you own. I mean, I think it’s cool that some people CAN create a numbered list of what they own, but that is not what I am about. I don’t think there are any rules for minimalism. And I believe that the second you look to someone else to decide for you how many of any particular item you can own and still be a minimalist is the moment that you stop your journey of discovering what truly brings value, joy, and purpose to your life.
So I’m not here to tell you that you have too much stuff. Or that you can only own 20 DVDs. Or that the kids dressups have to fit in a tote. Or that your books must fit on one shelf. None of that.
I’d like to describe the moment I knew for sure that we had TOO MUCH STUFF – and the moment I decided to start the process of changing that.
Do you know that scene in Star Wars: A New Hope when Luke, Hans and Leia fling themselves down the shoot and end up in the trash compactor. As they stand there the walls begin to move and the room begins to close in around them. THAT scene is what it felt like when I walked into the front door of my house. It was like the very walls started to close in and the weight of my entire home settled on my shoulders. In those days I was a new-ish mum to an 18 month old and I felt like I spent my entire day cleaning and putting things away. Then when I had finally got the house clean I turned around to realise I was terribly behind in washing or everyone was hangry because I hadn’t got to dinner.
That was when I knew we had way too much stuff and I needed to do something about it.
If your home leaves you feeling stressed rather than able to ‘de-stress’; if it leaves you feeling exhausted instead of inspired; or if things are never away because they don’t have homes – then I’m going to go out on a limb and say you probably have too much stuff.
There is a lot of space between having bare basics and holding onto every single item we have ever owned. And its in that space that we find room to learn what we need (and want) to be happy, content, inspired and abundant in out lives.
I don’t count how many possessions we have or have rules about how many books we can own or what sort of aesthetic our home should be styled as. My goal is to create a home that leaves me feeling calm enough that I am inspired to create magic!
If that is your goal to I’d like to share some tips with you. Come along at 10:30am on Wednesday 29th of July as I share 5 tips to Reduce the Overwhelm of the STUFF in your home. I’d love to have you there – just click this link to register (and you will get a copy of the replay if you can’t make it live!)
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