Live Like You Are Moving

Call me strange, but I love the idea of moving. Granted this is coming from someone who has this odd love for organizing, purging, and living a simple life. And moving helps feed into all 3 of those passions.

Over the past two weeks, I have started to scan our home and take a mental note of what we want to pack up and what we want to try and sell at a garage sale. I have done so much purging and recycling! One of the things that I often tell people who are wanting to simplify their life and pare down, is to pretend they are moving. What does that do?

• Causes you to only keep essentials
• Not keep multiples of many items, but only 1 or 2 of each (like bed sheets/bed)
• Get rid of those items that you do not have room to store or theoretically don’t want to pack in a box
• Allows you to go through every area of your home and get rid of the unnecessary and unused

When I think about what we own, I realize that we could always live with less. Many of us could. Living with less truly does look different for everyone, but I think what I am realizing is that we do not need “big” spaces. Granted a dining room where we could fit a family plus ours wouldn’t hurt, but we are not big-living people. We decided we do not need a large bedroom because all we do is sleep in there. We like it uncluttered and simple because isn’t that what you want when you sleep? A place to unwind and not worry about the clutter in your life?

Yes, we would love an area for Mazy to spread out, but you know what? We have done just fine with storing her toys in our living room corner. Stepping on bristle blocks isn’t always fun, but I love that we SEE Mazy. These days houses  are so large that families do not even see each other. Which I find heart-breaking. Don’t get me wrong; I love having my own space. But I can also find my “own space” by just taking a walk outside. Having Mazy close by us isn’t a bad thing. We are there when she needs us, instead of 3 floors apart. Having her items nearby helps us realize what she plays with and what she doesn’t (so we can get rid of the unnecessary). Plus, we are often an arms length to read her a book when she needs some cuddling and parent-time.

While thinking about moving, it has made us appreciate the space we have. It’s not large, but it has been so perfect. It has helped us live the lifestyle we want to live, helped us pare down a bit because it is smaller than our house in St. Joe (though that one was 1,051 sq ft), and it has been a place of so many memories – including having a child here.

As I have started to begin packing things away, I have become more and more grateful for all that we have. It may not be brand new or top of the line, but it is a reflection of who we are. I know one day all of this “stuff” is going to go to waste. Literally. How sad is that? So when I think about packing up, is it REALLY worth keeping? Is there something else that will suffice? Could someone else benefit from it more than me? Does it even have a purpose?

If you had to move, would you have a lot to get rid of? Would you fill up boxes and boxes of things that you do not even use? This has been a challenge for me as we continue to go through our belongings. We have no idea what size house we will move into, but really that should not matter when it comes to what we keep. Houses are like storage containers. The bigger the container, the more we own to fill it. Instead, we should keep what we feel is necessary and get rid of the rest.

Now back to going through our belongings…