Out With the Old - To Make Room for the New

And now we are four :)  It's amazing how the addition of one (now) 10 pound loaf of loveliness can change everything - and nothing.  Eddy is suddenly a BIG SISTER with "binky" duties and that whole sharing the limelight thing (oh, that old chestnut).  Jesse and I now regularly have to divide and conquer - and when we "switch" it's not to give the other person a break, it's to give them a break from whichever little person is proving most difficult at that particular time! 

But we still get up early.  We still have our morning coffee.  We've been berry-picking several times this summer.  Our house is still a mess - which brings me to the inspiration for today's post . . .

To make way for our brandy-new Mr E, it is time - now more than ever - to pare down our belongings, to minimize, to simplify.  Several of you know I've been toying with the idea of steering towards a more "minimalist" household and have given away a few bags of books and clothes so far.  I've been perusing this site and this one for tips and tricks, for the benefits behind living with LESS STUFF.  I am drawn to the idea that having less stuff around creates intention and value for the stuff that you DO keep around.  I am a pack-rat by nature - with a conflicting anxiety response that kicks in when I'm surrounded by all the "pack" that this rat has accumulated over the past 30 years.  My most common internal monologue of justification for keeping something goes in 2 directions: "What if I need this?"  And, "But I really SHOULD be using this more often."  Between the two of them, I've kept some of the most ridiculous of items FOR YEARS.  A brief sampling:

• class notes from college (no, not grad school, UNDERgrad notes in subjects such as Latin American Foreign Policy)
• a trunk-full of "exercise" t-shirts
• 8 pairs of black stockings - almost all with holes in the toe and/or heel
• the (still working) gear of a music box that has sentimental value ONLY because-this-is-something-that-is-supposed-to-have-sentimental-value-right???
• and (most recently - even in the midst of the purging and minimalist research) BOXES of toilet paper tubes because Eddy MIGHT be able to do a crafty project with them

Yeah.

Right now the urge to purge is strong enough that I've been imagining the four of us roughing it in a gypsy caravan (Danny the Champion of the World-style) on our 40 acres of pristine farmland.  Yes, we would be THOSE people.  I don't think we're going to go that far, but certainly  throwing out toilet paper tubes, donating some books, and putting a few posts on craigslist require no real irrevocable commitment.

And, in the spirit of following through with this experiment in owning (and organizing and cleaning and spending money on) less, I'll be putting up several posts in the coming weeks relating to our quest to simplify, ie "Minimalism and Toys", "Minimalism and Your Closet", "Minimalism and Gift-Giving" etc.  Hang in there with me folks, the goal of this venture and these posts is to reduce clutter in our lives to make room for the truly important things: relationships, family, quality over quantity.