Inspired by Minimalism

I have lately encountered a most fascinating lifestyle philosphy: that of minimalism. Basically, minimalism means getting rid of most of your belongings and only keeping the things that you use often or value highly. The idea is that stuff not only takes up physical space, but emotional and financial space, as well. Getting rid of excess stuff = more freedom. Here are a few blogs that I've been inspired by:

The Everyday Minimalist

Becoming Minimalist

miss minimalist

While I don't want to go crazy all-out minimalist and reduce everything to just the bare essentials, I'm curious to see how much I can pare down. I started down this road when I looked around a few weeks ago and realized that we still have boxes of stuff from the move that still haven't been unpacked! I mean, if we haven't needed the stuff after five months, will we ever really need it at all?

Ah, but you never know when you'll need that bundt pan.

Although we may not have much by American standards, we still have areas of excess, and I'm kind of tired of dealing with all the junk laying around.  So today, I started decluttering by tackling the chest that we own. I wish that I'd thought to take a "before" picture, but I didn't, so just picture it packed full of blankets and miscellaneous clothes and piled high with pillows and a couple boxes. After the purge...

Just look at all that... nothing. Ahhhhhhh.

A couple blankets for Oscar, my fall/winter clothes,
and a couple maternity tops I'm too lazy to put out in the deck storage closet.

I actually may just end up getting rid of the chest itself. I hate to do that, because it has sentimental value. But, as you can see, the top is broken, and if we can't come up with a way to fix it, then out it goes! But on to happier things: look at what is waiting to go to the thrift shop!

The shoes are staying :-)

The box under all the pillows is filled with stuff, too-- random knick-knacks, unused clothes from high school. Don't laugh; you'd be surprised how much of my current wardrobe is stuff I wore in high school. Let that be a lesson to buy clothes in classic styles and then take good care of them! (and date your pictures, or else you'll never remember what year they were taken!) Those pillows are in great shape, and that chevron blanket is one I crocheted myself... but they are things we just don't use, and they're taking up physical and mental space in my small apartment and tiny brain. So it's time to send them on to people who will love them.

Now I have to decide what to tackle tomorrow. What an exciting life I lead. :-P So what do you think? Is minimalism over-the-top, or something we need more of?