Identify the essentials, eliminate the rest

This is the face Maren makes when asked, "Are you happy?" (And yes, that is a piece of floss she is holding in her hands. She likes to floss her teeth, a habit I hope she keeps!)

The past few weeks I have been doing some MAJOR decluttering. (This has all been brought on by the thought of moving across the country.) All these years I have been telling myself, "I don't have that much junk." But, last week I sold $281.79 worth of books alone! Yikes! I am excited (and a little embarrassed) I got rid of that much stuff while making money. Anyway, clearing out the clutter has been incredibly therapeutic, energizing and a bit addictive. The house stays cleaner, I am less stressed, and have more time for Chris and Maren. What more could I ask for?

As you may have noticed, I am also reading The Power of Less by Leo Babauta, which is pretty good and an easy read. The author also created the blog, zenhabits. Unlike many of the minimalist blogs I have come across lately, Babauta is a little more realistic. His main message is "Simplicity boils down to two steps: 1. Identify the essentials 2. Eliminate the rest."

This article is also worth your time. And I just had to include my favorite quote below.

"Each item we accumulate stifles us and robs us of freedom because it requires so much of our time to tend. We have to pay for it, keep track of it, protect it, clean it, store it, insure it, and worry about it. … Later we have to move it, hide it, apologize for it, argue over it. … But these things are valuable, you say? What about the value of the life and time to store, to clean, to insure, to transport, to protect—what does that cost? More than money.” -Don Aslett

If you're feeling in a funk, I suggest throwing out (or better yet, selling) the crap. You'll feel awesome!