Okay, this post isn’t actually about Genesis, or this amazing song, but once I came up with the title, the song popped into my head and I couldn’t shake it.
And now you can’t either.
You’re welcome.
A result of my Netflix addiction is that I recently binge-watched Marie Kondo’s “Tidying Up” and then watched the documentary “Minimalism.”
I’ve always been a purger of things.
I dabbled with professional organizing and was just about to get certified when I had baby number 3.
Number four?
At this point, who knows, but it didn’t work out.
My favorite show on TLC was always “Clean Sweep” and then “Clean House” which was on the Style network.
I love organizing.
Now, I’m way better at organizing other people’s things than my own, but I keep my stuff in order.
Having four kids in the house does not really make it easy to keep this place neat and tidy, and I’m okay with that.
I don’t want to have a room in my house where no one is allowed to live.
But I also don’t want clutter.
So, I’m the purger and organizer in my family, even though it makes me bananas, sometimes.
As I watched “Tidying Up,” I emptied my nightstand and cleared it off. Tossed the junk, put things that didn’t belong there where they actually belonged, and then put it back together neatly and cleanly.
The next weekend, I went to Monkey Girl’s room.
She’s been talking about wanting to do a pre-college purge so that when she is leaving for college she doesn’t have to go through years’ worth of belongings to decide what to bring.
So, I brought a grocery bag to her room and said “Let’s toss 25 things.”
I figured, a little at a time and we could get it done.
Five hours later, we had filled three large, lawn-sized trash bags with old notebooks, stained and ripped clothes, wrappers, and all kinds of other things that had accumulated for the past few years.
We also had two large, lawn-sized trash bags full of clothes that we immediately put in a car and dropped at a donation bin.
It’s been awhile since we went through her stuff.
Now her room is neat, clean, organized, and even she said that she just feels like it’s easier to do everything because she doesn’t have to hunt for anything anymore.
Then, last weekend, I watched Minimalism.
I found it to be more about consumerism than minimalism, but it really spoke to me.
I have always said that I would love to live in a tiny house.
I could use the library for my books, my phone for my music, my computer for my writing.
I’d be set.
I truly don’t need stuff.
But I do have stuff.
Because I live in a house with five other people and in this house, there is space, and people seem to always need to fill space.
I’d be so fine with some unfilled space.
One of my favorite pictures in the world is this one:
It’s a picture of Monkey Girl and Tiny, a few months after we moved into this house.
We had quite a few rooms that were empty because our other houses didn’t have the rooms that this one has.
So, this was what was to become our dining room.
It’s my favorite picture because of the people in it, obviously, and the moment that I captured without either of them knowing.
But that room is now full.
It has a dining room table that seats 8, a china cabinet and a sideboard.
You can’t move around in that room.
And it’s functional and we use it frequently and I’m not saying that I wish we didn’t furnish it the way we did.
But look at that picture.
Think about the dreaming and thinking and twirling that could go on in that room.
There’s nothing to clean, nothing to break, nothing to have to deal with.
This year, I’m trying to have less.
Sounds weird to even write it.
But I have way more than I need, and this year I’m going to be paring down.
Except for my books. We aren’t discussing my books.
But everywhere else, things are going to go.
Because I don’t need it.
I have what I need and who I need and the rest can go to people who need it more than I do.
So, no, I’m not taking a cue from Phil and the gang and throwing it all away, but I am going to start to whittle away at the excess.
I’d rather spend my money on experiences and only bring in the things that will truly bring me joy.
Because if it doesn’t make me happy, why bring it here at all?
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