From Hoarder to Minimalist

Have you ever asked yourself the question, “Am I a hoarder?”. If so, I have some bad news for you: even considering this question means you probably have some hoarding tendencies. Sorry! But the good news is even the weekend hoarder can be helped! After moving into the the Motel, (and seeing just how much stuff we had somehow packed into our old two-bedroom home), I started to worry about my…”habits”. The movers had to call in a second truck just to fit all of our stuff! Did I mention our house was less than 1000sqft? Looking back, I should have seen the evidence right in front of me. But in my twisted mind, my walls weren’t complete unless furniture stacked together like a poorly played tetris game.

Something had to give

This move to the motel marked my first attempt at becoming a minimalist. Okay fine. It’s not really my first attempt. (In fact, I’ve tried to “become minimal” ever since we moved back from New York City after living in a 175sqft apartment! But more on that later). This move was different. This time, I mentally committed to becoming minimal more than ever before. How? Because instead of BOXING stuff up for storage, I started throwing things away. Lots of things.

Why hoarding sucks

When you have so much stuff in your home, it starts to interfere with daily activities. And while no one intends to be a hoarder, a lot of us simply have way more stuff than we should. Not only is it physically harder to go from one room to the next, it’s just plain distracting. Our brains can only process so much! Raise your hand if you ever started toward the kitchen to grab a snack, and ended up halfway there and forgot what you were doing. Yeah. That.

My minimalist bible

I didn’t just decide to start throwing things away. Actually at first, I started buying more things… ha! I bought organizers and shelves and hooks in an attempt to organize my stuff. But then I learned about the KonMari Method.

This chick wrote a book that seriously changed my life! It’s called: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up – The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, and it basically walks you through a SUPER simple (and fun) way of thinking about your stuff. Essentially, if it brings you joy and hits you right in the feels, keep it. If not, thank it for it’s time in your life, and pitch it.  I’m not going to try and re-write the book here – it’s a fast read and only $10. But the very same day I started reading it, I threw away/donated 127 items of clothing.  And it didn’t hurt at all. In fact, it felt really damn good. 🙂