I love discussions! and sorry that I really go into it
( me: give this woman a nickel and she talks for a dollars worth.)
D harriet, I first looked at the Kondo method and found the idea of pulling everything out exhausting (for me),physically and intellectually. After watching her on netflix i got a better feel about keeping the things you love. That made sense to me.
My goal is not to be a minimalist because I couldn't live in such empty spaces as he and other minimalist live. My goal is to have more life that I love to do and less cleaning.
we still, after 5 years of decluttering every spring, had too much stuff . The over abundance of stuff in closets and in the basement drained me personally. At first I blamed dd youngers want to keep everything as the reason for so much stuff in the house. Her bedroom went beyond her space into 1/2 of the basement. I found, as I started the process, that I, dh and even dd older added to the large amount of stuff we couldn't use in a lifetime. dh can't part with things either.
I just got tired of moving the stuff around and struggling with the general cleaning.
Joshua Becker and Minimalist Mom (she is so sweet on her videos) are true minimalists. I couldn't live like that. I wanted what we needed to fit into the closets we have and few or No plastic boxes waiting for some day.
We still had
way too much stuff. but now my stuff is (getting) controllable.
dh is getting better but still can't let things go. He has a dream vision of what he wants his stuff. dh is a keeper. dd younger is a keeper (way to much) and dd older is more of a "I am too busy" to go through things left behind at home. I can honestly say the stuff that is left is dh's and dd youngers. Mostly dh's!
Joining the facebook group, of this program, helped me realize that I wasn't the only one who struggles going through the stuff.
.
The best thing I took from Joshua Beckers course was how we keep stuff that represents whom we were in our past - from sports to everything. We still want to envision or show our past.
He also says that many people keep things to show a wish version of themselves.
He said a friend loved the idea of woodworking and bought all the stuff to have out and look at but never did the woodworking. He realized that the idea was more enjoyable and appealing than the want to do it..
So you can see I still have way to much stuff. My basement is looking better and better and my goal is that it stays minimal; especially after the mice situation.
My other goal is that we keep our stuff limited to our closets. dd younger's stuff is in the 3 season room for now while I have things fixed and painted in her bedroom. I am not sure how this will go but I want her stuff to be in her closet and under her bed. Goal: New stuff in means choosing stuff going out.
Our garage is filled with dh (but it is better since I took most of my stuff out).. Dh's cars have always been in the garage.
(we are making progress).
I just got tired of our house being a storage unit. (so you see we did have so much stuff in different areas.). It was too hard to keep up.
I don't want to be a minimalist, my goodness no, but want my home to be easy to work with and if anything happened to dh or I that our d kids wouldn't have to deal with our stuff (dd younger would keep everything bc she would see the stuff as a reminder of us instead of just stuff). One family member still has 2 storage units of her past self and her mothers stuff (lots) - lots of money for stuff.
I love a good discussion!!! What works for you d Harriet and all? I am sure no one was as cluttered as I was.