Decluttering

If the title didn't give it away, this isn't a very 'deep' post. I suppose I could be all 'I'm decluttering the mind' or something...but I'm not. I'm talking actual physical decluttering.

I have this weird thing with clutter. The more people we add to our family, the less things I want in our space. It's a good thing we don't plan on adding any more people, or Jim would probably come home to find the sofa missing or something. (kidding. on the last part. not the first.) I actually don't mind clutter in other houses or places - it honestly doesn't bother me; unless it's close to the hoarding level, then maybe. I read this quote from William Morris a couple of years ago, and I believe the thought that entered my mind was 'YES!', or something like that. The quote says "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." 

Gradually, over different seasons and life stages, we are slowly getting to that point. It also depends a bit on money, because I can't just go out and buy all of IKEA, even though I do believe that 75% of that store is beautiful, and 100% is useful. But we're realizing what things we actually use on a daily basis, what things were a good idea but completely impractical, and what things just make us smile, like a piece of artwork or a family heirloom. We've sold a few things, given a few things away, donated things. In the season of littles some things are in constant rotation...clothes, toys, shoes, baby gear. 

This year has kicked me into high gear, mainly because we added another person who likes to spit up quite a lot, and it smells like goat cheese, except not in a pleasant way (I'm downplaying this so you don't throw up in your own mouth). We're doing constant laundry, and now that he's on the move, there are lots of toys and random objects that get strewn around the house. I don't terribly mind these things, but if I have excess clutter, excess things to clean, excess things to put away...then that's all I'm doing. Or I live with the clutter and pretend it doesn't bother me until everyone knows just how much it really is bothering me. (sorry honey) 

Some examples? We have a galley kitchen and not a lot of cabinets, so have pared down our items to high-quality but actually USED things. For example, we have a Vitamix (older model), a Le Creuset Dutch Oven and a cast iron pan that get used almost daily. So other pots and pans are kept to a minimum; we don't have a blender or a food processor. I've been working on paring down my wardrobe because A) I have small children and B) see above about the laundry problem. I don't need a ton of things, so I've gotten into the capsule wardrobe trend, and let me tell you, it's life-changing. I'm going to write a whole post on it, because I'm a little obsessed.

Anyway, this was a long rambling post mainly because I didn't want to skip a day and I was decluttering my desk tonight. No deep thoughts, no profound statements. Except from William Morris. 

Here's to less things, more room, and you, for making it to the end of this post!