Simplicity

When I was home a few weekends ago, I helped my Mom start the arduous task of cleaning out her closet - that should really read closets (no less than three, mind you), but who's counting. Oh, and by clean I really mean purge everything. You know, just your average Sunday afternoon. :)

I purged everything in my own closet just over a year ago, and I've never looked back. While it was tough to part with many of my possessions at the time, I have grown to appreciate the items I do own with a whole new level of gratitude. I know we could have gone into my Mom's closet, taken everything out, bought fancy little bins to house it all, and then re-assembled the closet - in ROYGBV order no less. Because clearly if things LOOK orderly, they must function efficiently. That would mean we were organized AND we didn't have to get rid of a thing. Win-win! Or not...

I recently read an article called "The Illusion of Simplicity", and thought it explained my thoughts on this subject so well. One of my favorite lines in the article is:

You don’t need a bunch of bins to give you control over your stuff. If your stuff isn’t serving you, it won’t be serving you any better packed away in a box somewhere.

Stuff isn't going to bring you joy. Experiences do that. I learned the concept best by reading "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up" by Marie Kondo. I truely can't recommend this book highly enough. If my Mom can be inspired to purge everything after reading it, I'm convinced others will be as well. There is so much more to life than worrying about stuff.

Photo credit:  Urban Outfitters