Shedding the Stuff

The word stuff comes out of my mouth with a bad taste.  It get’s snarled up like a bad word.  Stuff.  Gross. 

A friend just posted this on my facebook wall,

“Hey Kim. I’m having a serious house problem.  I keep thinking my house is too small, but the real problem is I have too much stuff. It’s all over my house in piles. I have to step over things…no room to put stuff away. How did the show teach you to get rid of stuff?”

Two things. 
I can completely relate.
The show didn’t teach us anything.

🙂 That would have been nice, though!  If they came along with quick tricks or something! 

It took 2 years and a lot of planning and a slow change in mindset.

I think we’ve all been trained somehow to want.  That’s the first thing that gets us in trouble.  Changing want into contentment, that’s the trick. 

I stopped buying stuff. 
I realized one day when I went to Target to get a necessity that I hadn’t been there in months!  Crazy!  After not being there in so long I realized how bombarded I was with colors, ads, lights, cuuute stuff, and, oh man, ish. There is was.  Want.  I had to get out of there quickly!  I did not want want.  I had walked into Target completely content with what I had.  And I left feeling like I had less!  Like I’d be happier if I had walked in with a full wallet.  And I DIDN’T LIKE that a stop at Target could TAKE AWAY some of my happiness!!!

That was a first step for us.  To stop the incoming flow of stuff.  (Not that I’d been shopping a ton prior to that, just that we had to be mindful of what we were allowing to take up space in our home.)

Then I put an empty box at the top of each closet and tossed stuff up there that I didn’t need. 
Clothes that were too small or I couldn’t get the kids to wear.
Toys that weren’t played with.
Doubles of anything.
Things that didn’t line up with our value system. (like Barbies -how did they make their way into our house in the first place!?)
Trinkets.
Junk.
Excess.
Things that fall into the “what if” catagory.
Things we haven’t used in years.
Things that we thought would make someone else happier than they made us.

I kept filling boxes!  And replaced them with empties to fill up again!
Slow progress. 

Then I read The Treasure Principle: Discovering the Secret of Joyful Giving and began to understand that this wasn’t our stuff we were dealing with but that we were rather managers of what was essentially God’s.

And to put it into perspective…  Here’s a (random item).  How can we part with it!?  We’ve had it for so long, I remember when blah, blah, blah.  BUT God gave us this direction and opportunity to live in a tiny house.  What is His desire for this (random item)?  Does He want us to keep it (and have more excess)?  Does He want us to sell it (it is His, right? Not ours to profit from -especially when we’re being given this mega blessing)?  Does He want us to give it away?  Yes.  Yes!  Jesus repeatedly tells us to serve, share, help, and give generously!

So from that point on the giving got easier.  Every truckload of excess donated to Church and Goodwill left us with the amazing feeling of freedom!  Every piece of furniture put out on the curb felt like the opportunity to give a gift!  And the slow process of shedding the stuff snowballed and got quicker!  Closets, cupboards, shelves, and drawers emptied and filled us with joy!

I learned once that organization experts say to start with the garage.  Because when you come home from work and step out of your car to see projects, unfinished work, messes, and a mental to-do list you pack on the stress before you even enter your home.  You home should be a retreat from stress!  Welcome and peaceful. 

The clutter in our house had been transposing into clutter in my mind.  Clearing it out physically has allowed me to clear my head mentally.  I find myself way more fresh, ready, and flexible now that the majority of the clutter has cleared. 

So this is what I’m left with.
I don’t want want or stuff. 
What I want is to be clear of clutter, to bless others the way I’ve been blessed, to manage God’s things by following His command to give, and to experience the freedom that comes with choosing contentment. 

Living out these values with the kids while they are this young is a blessing in itself.  Our hope is that they grow up to value the experiences we have together over the items they have in their closets.  Because I know if we don’t have to pay for the square footage to store it we can be free’d up to follow God’s plan for our lives and all the experiences that go along with it.