A fellow Professional Organizer and friend, Amy Melaragno, mentioned watching the movie “Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things.”  I watched it.

This is what happened next.

I asked myself, “How much is enough?” I started walking around the house and began addressing things one category at a time. Some of the questions I asked myself:

• Is it worn out, dirty, old?
• Have I used it lately?
• Do I care about it?
• Can I do without it?
• Is it fun?
• How many is enough?
• Will I use it, watch it, wear it?

 

Tennis Shoes: I wear them to work out, hike, clean the yard, run errands, work in clean houses and work in hoarded houses. I like color and variety. How many are enough?

13 pairs of tennis shoes

Five pairs donated

Eight pairs kept

Reusable shopping bags: We acquired them so that we wouldn’t use plastic bags and now I have too many of these! They give them away at conferences, stores and somehow they have multiplied in our home.

We had 24 bags.

Left: I kept five.  Middle: my husband kept three.  Far right:  bags donated.

DVD’s: I bought them because I loved the movie and thought surely I would watch it repeatedly. Who am I kidding? I hardly make time to watch one movie a month on the weekend. I bought Modern Family and Mad Men because we loved the series. Now most of these movies and series are available on Netflix.

What we owned.

What I was able to let go of…now.

So this is what I did in an hour on a Saturday afternoon. Sunday I went through our gloves, scarves, coats and water bottles. I plan to continue the process throughout 2017.

Next up:

Do I need 14 cereal bowls?
Do I need five pair of pajamas?
What books am I finished with?
Will I burn my CD’s on my computer and then sell them?
Do we have any kitchen tools that are repetitive?
How many sets of sheets do I really need for our bed?

On a daily basis I hear from clients and friends that they have too much stuff. De-cluttering, letting go, living more simply and living with less appeals to many. We get to decide how much is enough. If we get stuck we can ask for help too. My husband helped me through the “shopping bag” purge. Amy, my Professional Organizer friend, has guided me through more of the emotional attachments that I have had to things. It goes back to “what do I want?”  “Is the clutter negatively affecting my life?”

So the movie made an impact on me. As you can see it propelled me to let go of some excess in our home. My husband and I love experiences. We love to eat good food and travel. After watching this movie I want to collect more experiences rather than more stuff.