Remember when I said I was going to play the #minsgame on this site? Focus on minimalism by giving away the same number of items that correlated to the date on the calendar for one full month. Yeah, me too. October did not end up being my most disciplined month, but sometimes life happens and I’m okay with that. I thought I should at least wrap up with a shout out to the book that inspired me.
Before the Elephant Mamas blog, there was another blog idea that bounced around in my head for a while. Anyone in the throws of moving can become enamored with minimalism–the concept of simple living and the possibility that everything we want in life may not be found at the mall or when the UPS man brings a brown box to your door. But I was in the midst or remodeling my house–hardly on the list of must-dos for authors Joshua Fields Milburn and Ryan Nicodemus who wrote Everything That Remains. That’s when I decided that my blog should be called Minimalist Hypocrite.
For many reasons, that blog never launched, but probably one of the biggest is that any title with the name Hypocrite in it may be doomed from the start! Despite my clinging to the hypocrite nomenclature, this book had a positive influence on me and helped maintain the focus on simplicity even when everything was trying to pull me down another road. It was definitely helpful when we squeezed two adults, two teenagers, and two dogs into a two bedroom apartment for six months of very close living.
While the book is written by two thirty-something single men, it’s lessons are definitely relevant for Elephant Mamas too. Whether you are at the stage of amassing copious amounts of preschool art, endless crappy Happy Meal toys, or equipment for a sport your child thought they might like to try (skimboarding in cold Puget Sound, anyone?), you know that kids can bring a lot of stuff into your home. The question is what exactly are we saving all of it for? And, if it’s too important to throw away, but is stuffed in a box for years on end, is it really that important? Through their own stories, this book can help you work your way to your own answers. You may end up a radical minimalist or you may just clean out the junk drawer, but either way, I think most people will benefit from the thought process.
I didn’t finish Oct #minsgame either. Although the thought of cleaning out is one I do find important, I felt it too stressful to make sure each day had the correct amount of items to move. With that said, I did get rid of some things that really had no purpose of being kept, so in those first few days of Oct, it was helpful. I still try to periodically purge items that could find a better home. I find it hard to find a place to actually sell items, so I end up donating. That is a great option, but I also would like to make a few bucks here and there.
I think of living small, but not sure I can ever embrace the extreme of it. I need my own space and fell it’s important for each family member to have their own space as well. Downsizing will be an option when the empty nest occurs, but I don’t think it will be extreme small, minimalist living.
You always keep me thinking.