I have been really into minimalism for as long as I can remember.
When my parents got divorced when I was 8, my dad got a small 2 bedroom apartment. My mom moved into a small 2 bedroom apartment with my Gramma. My little brother and I went back and forth between the two. At my dad's, being the girl, I had my own room and my brother and dad shared a room. At my mom's my Gramma and her dog got one room, my mom, brother and I shared a room.
Before this we lived in a comparably large house. We each had our own room, a big backyard, and lots of other space. I remember having so many toys in my room and my brother in his. I remember our patio in the backyard filled with lots of outdoor toys.
You can imagine the downsizing that was done when we moved and divided.
I don't share this as a story of pity, because I was always a pretty happy and content kid, but rather to explain where my minimalistic nature was born. Since I clearly could not drag things back and forth between homes everyday/week little of the "stuff" I did have I had any real attachment to. Which was seriously great.
When the time came for me to move out for college into a small dorm room deciding what to bring was easy. Throughout my 5 years in college I moved a lot, I lived in 6 different places before I got married. And I could literally fit all of my belongings, including my bed, in my car. (I had a SUV). Every time I moved, I downsized and got rid of things I didn't use. While I absolutely hate moving, I love the opportunity it gives me to "declutter".
Luckily, my amazing husband had the same quality and all of his stuff also could fit in his car. Since we have married, almost five year, we have moved 7 times. Every time we move we get rid of a lot. Actually, when we moved out of our first place to move to Utah we basically got rid of everything. We downsized to one car, we filled it and a part of a tiny trailer and the rest we gave away. We have always lived in tiny places and so keeping our stuff to a minimum was a must and fairly easy to do.
We now live in a much larger space with LOTS of storage space. We've done ok job of keeping the stuff to a minimum but there are times we both have little freak outs that we have too much and go through and get rid of the excess.
Lately, I've been overwhelmed in our home. Not that we have too much stuff, though we have gathered some excess to donate lately, but rather because of all the space our home isn't as organized as I'd like. There are lots of places to just put things. Our bedroom was feeling overwhelming especially. In our bedroom we have a night stand, a king sized bed, crib, small drawer rack for baby things, dresser, and a "TV" with a moveable TV stand. (The TV is just a monitor we use with a Roku to watch Netflix). Our bedroom is pretty big and has a vaulted ceiling so you would think I wouldn't feel this way but I just like things really open and most of the space was being used. Our dresser was broken so we went to Ikea to find a new one.
Trigger the minimalistic nature in me. I didn't want a new dresser. I didn't want to fix the old one, I just wanted to get rid of it. How do you not have a dresser? Socks. Underwear. Ect. So, John and I brainstormed what we could do.
We left Ikea empty handed.
A few days later we went back and purchased 6 bins. Remember how I said we have lots of storage space in our home right now? Our bedroom closet has a ton of shelves. So, we ditched the dresser and we are utilizing that space in a more organized way.
Before this we lived in a comparably large house. We each had our own room, a big backyard, and lots of other space. I remember having so many toys in my room and my brother in his. I remember our patio in the backyard filled with lots of outdoor toys.
You can imagine the downsizing that was done when we moved and divided.
I don't share this as a story of pity, because I was always a pretty happy and content kid, but rather to explain where my minimalistic nature was born. Since I clearly could not drag things back and forth between homes everyday/week little of the "stuff" I did have I had any real attachment to. Which was seriously great.
When the time came for me to move out for college into a small dorm room deciding what to bring was easy. Throughout my 5 years in college I moved a lot, I lived in 6 different places before I got married. And I could literally fit all of my belongings, including my bed, in my car. (I had a SUV). Every time I moved, I downsized and got rid of things I didn't use. While I absolutely hate moving, I love the opportunity it gives me to "declutter".
Luckily, my amazing husband had the same quality and all of his stuff also could fit in his car. Since we have married, almost five year, we have moved 7 times. Every time we move we get rid of a lot. Actually, when we moved out of our first place to move to Utah we basically got rid of everything. We downsized to one car, we filled it and a part of a tiny trailer and the rest we gave away. We have always lived in tiny places and so keeping our stuff to a minimum was a must and fairly easy to do.
We now live in a much larger space with LOTS of storage space. We've done ok job of keeping the stuff to a minimum but there are times we both have little freak outs that we have too much and go through and get rid of the excess.
Lately, I've been overwhelmed in our home. Not that we have too much stuff, though we have gathered some excess to donate lately, but rather because of all the space our home isn't as organized as I'd like. There are lots of places to just put things. Our bedroom was feeling overwhelming especially. In our bedroom we have a night stand, a king sized bed, crib, small drawer rack for baby things, dresser, and a "TV" with a moveable TV stand. (The TV is just a monitor we use with a Roku to watch Netflix). Our bedroom is pretty big and has a vaulted ceiling so you would think I wouldn't feel this way but I just like things really open and most of the space was being used. Our dresser was broken so we went to Ikea to find a new one.
Trigger the minimalistic nature in me. I didn't want a new dresser. I didn't want to fix the old one, I just wanted to get rid of it. How do you not have a dresser? Socks. Underwear. Ect. So, John and I brainstormed what we could do.
We left Ikea empty handed.
A few days later we went back and purchased 6 bins. Remember how I said we have lots of storage space in our home right now? Our bedroom closet has a ton of shelves. So, we ditched the dresser and we are utilizing that space in a more organized way.
I know it probably seems silly, but it makes me so happy!
I was listening to this podcast on minimalism the other day and she was telling this story about her friend talking about her home and kind of teasing her that her house was like a museum. Besides the necessities, her home has no clutter or extras. It sparked something inside of me and I have been getting rid of clothes I don't wear and making plans for how John and I will spend our next few Saturdays.
There really is no point to this post besides that I'm weird and love getting rid of stuff and my husband is AMAZING and went along with my crazy idea to ditch the dresser. I'm so grateful "stuff" doesn't have control over my life.
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