minimalism

The other day my neighbor remarked that he keeps telling his wife not to buy so much "stuff" for their house because this world isn't forever, and it's not worth spending all your efforts to accumulate junk. Of course I agreed with him, and added a paraphrase of 1 John 2:15-17 "don't love the world or the things in the world, for the world is passing away."

I've been reading the magazine Real Simple for years, and now have been reading some modern design-type minimalist stuff. Dwell magazine, for one. I think that minimalist design best captures the spirit of what I want in my home - uncluttered, friendly, and easy to maintain. I've been telling Jeff since we were married that I am a minimalist, but I usually was giving an excuse for not putting pictures up on the walls. It's taken me 8 years to realize that I really want to be a true minimalist - I don't want to be fettered by "stuff" - and once again I need to muck out the stalls, so to speak. And for me, it is a spiritual matter. Even though it's fine to enjoy stuff, I don't want to be obsessed with it or too attached to it.

It is spiritually stifling to me to have clutter and knick-knacks all around me. I can't function creatively let alone maintain daily routine if it's a mess, and if everything doesn't have a place to go or if there's too much stuff then it's a mess.

I guess it's time for another garage sale. Although it makes my kids paranoid when I have a garage sale. Yesterday Logan was looking at a photo album and said "mom, can you get me a new one of these? I think we sold it in our garage sale and I still want it" - it was a picture of him with a toy at Gramma's house (her toy, I guess since I didn't recognize it.)