I like to think of myself as a minimalist...and definately as an organized person...yet I am by no means perfect!!
As far as the organizing goes, well, I can't truly say I am organized if it took me almost two months to get the last of the piles of stuff out of the future nursery for our little one!! Even now, I still have two rubbermaid tubs of papers that need sorting!! I can be a bit of a procrastinator if the project seems overly big...especially now that I have less energy because of my pregnancy!!
And the whole minimalist thing? Sure, I can look thru a Sharper Image catalog now and not be impressed or covet anything in there (a catalog I used to drool over)...but that doesn't mean there isn't still stuff I wish I had...as evidenced by the baby things and home things I've wished for/drooled over in the last few months.
The thing that makes it easy to turn away from those things is of course money....cause I don't want just any old stuff...but the stuff that costs!! But what if money wasn't an issue? Would I drown myself in stuff then? It's an interesting question. I'd like to say I wouldn't...cause I LOVE a clutter-free environment, but the pack-rat tendencies of my family are not that far removed from me. If you were to see the old farmhouse where my parents live, there is an abundance of STUFF there...mostly useless, but there nevertheless. My grandmother lived up to the last few years of her life in a small house that seemed bursting at the seams with all kinds of STUFF...things that she was certain she could make use of "someday"!! Now, there is some improvement from my grandmother's generation to my parents...as they at least acknowledge that they have too much stuff...but they still have a hard time parting with much of anything!!
My determination is to not let the wants and desires for STUFF rule me. I must acknowledge that the desires are there...but not give in to them. Only then will I be able to truly embrace the minimalist life.
How many of you come from a background of packrats? What sorts of STUFF do you drool over and wish you had...if money were no issue?
2 comments:
I can totally identify. I come from a family of packrats and am trying to overcome those tendencies in myself. Even with my 13 moves in the last 10 years I still haven't recovered from my packrat-ness. Maybe this move will help... I am trying to sort paper so I don't have any random boxes of unknown paper moving with us on this move. That should help. As for drooling, I think that I drool most over organization stuff... be it from Ikea or Staples, I think in my dream world that if I just had the right stuff to be organized I would magicly be organized. I know that it isn't true but that is what I drool over :)
Hi Julie, I followed you from my own blog where you entered a giveaway I am having. I stopped in to say thanks for visiting my site and I hope you will continue to stop in. I like your blog too. I like to take a minute of my day to reach out to my readers and see what they are doing with their own blogs (or businesses). Nice to meet you and good luck with my giveaway. Stop in again soon.
Cheryl
http://www.becausemomsaidso.com
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