Investing in me

Unfortunately per my cities regulations I cant have a garage sale but every four months. So I cant have another till January. So my garage area is getting quite cluttered.

There is "stuff" under my garage sale stuff. Mine is mostly things I have not been able to get rid of. But I see now that with the victory in my daily life that just minimalizing my closet has given me I will be able to gain amazingly in my daily life from clearing out the piles in the garage. I wonder what form this will come in?

So I'm going to keep on my missions in the home and start chipping away at turning the entire piles in the garage into garage sale piles. :)

My Minimalism

My style is not the sleek and expensive modern landscape you generally think of as minimalism.

I love my elegant swirly rosewood headboard and my white quilt. At the end of the bed is a neatly folded white and blue toile quilt, at the head board are our white with tiny pink rosebud print sleeping pillows with a simple ruffle on the end. They aren't even new looking, they have holes in them. They say worn and loved. They work and are beautiful. My space still reflects me.

I enjoy books and movies. I have considerably downsized them. And continue to do so. I'm still not where I want to be with them. I am getting closer to my idea of only owning enough books to be comfortable on the built in shelves. Currently there is still overflow. I could just go for it and sell them all. But I'm reading them, savoring them and putting them in the sell pile as I am finish.

I'm the average mom with a mommly body. There were four sizes of clothes in my closet. The ones I left are the ones I currently fit in. Of course that was the largest size. But I am so much happier. I thought I only had 4 tops, but I have a new wardrobe just because the tight clothes are gone. I can even find my workout clothes way easier now. Which makes it more doable. That alone has changed my perspective and how I use my time. I get dirty now. I sweat! I go out in the yard and heal my soul with the work. All because I cleaned out my closet. Go figure.

And I thought I had problems

Well of course I do. I am plagued by the problem of too much stuff. Too much keeping, too much buying, too much procrastination of dealing with these things.

I have never been satisfied because I didnt realize how extreme my ideal is in this current atmosphere. And paradoxically (is that a word?)my goals were too low.

My ideal. Is the home I grew up in. Except for the family business, a plumbing company. Delete that part. But not my hardworking parents who built it there.

Anyway, back to my 70's home. The golden couches in the living room. That was it. Couches. People were the treasure, our friends were the treasure there. Our cat was our entertainment system. Thats where we danced, listened to dad play the guitar, played cards. We were a family there.

I have a housefull of kiddos. Their life and educations generate . . . lets just be real, (pause for effect) waste. And for some reason I think I need to save every piece of paper to prove something. When, in the end the only papers that count are their degrees.

My mom kept one box of mementos, other than photos. A few cute things from Kindergarten, the clown I drew, my brothers poems and a few really good drawings.

Sure, I've stopped shopping. I am quicker to throw out and donate these days. And dejunking a drawer or resetting a room is somewhat of a hobby. But now I see all this stuff for what it is. Its roadblocks to more happiness.

heh, It cracked me up when I had to pick a blogger template. The simple ones were to bland. I needed a bit more color. (See also; consumer.) So I picked this one, it's this funky book clutter. The templates name is simple.