Doing Away with the Extra

When we moved to Europe, we decided to take just the bare bones of our household goods with us -- less than half our things, in the spirit of living in a smaller space and living "lighter."  The remaining items went into storage (including much of my clothing -- see a previous post on that), and we quickly learned that our new set up was more than enough to live well.

Now having returned to the US, I am faced with all those things which we have been reunited with from storage.  Though we have the room to keep all these extras, I don't want to.  They are all slowly percolating their way to the garage and from there, charity or eBay, and it feels great!   I want more blank spaces, thinking room, and spacious shelves in my life, and so saying goodbye to these former treasures is getting easier and easier.  Why did I need a 5 pc place setting of white Crate and Barrel buffet dishes, which I never used?  Our own regular white dishes work just as well.  Not to mention the extra-extra set of flatware (no one needs more than two sets of flatware, no matter how you reason), the monkey bread mold pan (which should NOT be used regularly, for obvious reasons to my waistline), and the french press coffee set (pretty but why get it out when the fancy cappuccino make currently on the counter does the same more easily).

Truth is, I would be embarrassed to have my European friends come over and see this plethora of "extra" all over our house right now.  Their homes were never crowded over with stuff the way our American homes are.  Though spaces were smaller, there were plenty of clean surfaces and spots for everything.  Kids were no excuse, they had places for their toys and they didn't take over the entire house.  And people used their good things, because they bought the best they could afford, and they couldn't afford not to use it.  It's not like they had room for "everyday" plates and "nice plates" and "only at Christmas plates" in one little cupboard.  Clutter is not chic, it is not elegant and it is not comfortable.

Anyway, the house-wide purge has been raging these past few days, and much to my surprise it is striking all kinds of places.  Here are some tips I've learned along the way:

1.  I can be a book-lover without being a book-hoarder. 
I loved having lots of stacks of books around, having all those choices to read and re-read just seemed comforting, but they were taking over one full room in our new house.  I kept every book that had ever come into my life -- which was way too many!  Now I am down to one third of that collection, largely because of the ingenious little Kindle. Many of the classics can be downloaded for free on Kindle (think Shakespeare, Jane Austen, etc.), so I have parted with the paper versions.  I have only kept sentimental books, or things I know I won't find free or buy again on Kindle.  I have also parted with all those "airplane" reads - the chic lit you read one time and toss aside.  I know they won't be read again, and that's okay, but it doesn't give it the right to permanently move into my house.  And gone are all the dated books from college on social security or the courts system or group psychology.  I won't read them again, and there's more current reads out there if I ever do get that particular intellectual pang again.

2.  I can throw makeup away - it is physically possible!
Much of my makeup falls into two categories - love and hate.  I have almost-empty pans of much loved products which have just a scootch bit of product left.  They are saved under the rationale that I must finish to the last droplet or keep it to remember the name for eventual repurchase.  On the other side of the spectrum is the untouched stuff.  Tried once or twice, it wasn't my color, but as I spent good money perhaps it would become my color one day... right?  Wrong.  I chucked out the lot, and replaced my loves.  Now my make-up kit is half its size and makes be smile every time I open the drawer.

3.  Acknowledge I will never be the scrapbooker (or hobby of your choice) of my dreams.
I had grand aspirations that I would scrapbook every moment of my life into a stylized, artistic opus to be admired by captive audiences everywhere.  Only it takes a lot of time.  Time I'd rather be out living scrapbookable moments.  But in the meantime, I collected a supply of odds and ends that take up quite a bit of room.  It's since been culled down to some crafty basics, and some stacks of plain notecards.  When I am feeling particularly creative, I can scrapbook a notecard or greeting card for someone, but I think I'm done pressuring myself into a big expensive hobby that just wasn't me.

4.  I am done beating myself up about mistakes, but I will try very hard not to make more.
One of the reasons I used to have such a hard time letting go of things was I would tell myself, "hey, you spent so much money on all this stuff, and you clearly wanted it at some point!  it's a waste to throw it away!!"  Now, I imagine having to carry all this stuff with me, physically and psychologically, to my next place.  That weighs me down more than the idea that I am getting rid of perfectly good things that don't suit me any more.  My new commitment is not to accumulate anything new until I am 100% certain I will want it with me forever.  This makes shopping more tedious but way less spendy.  Besides, all my unwanted things are either recovering some of their cost on eBay or going to good homes through donation.  I will not guilt myself into clutter ever again!


How do you handle the clutter in your life, and what tips do you have for making your surroundings more chic and comfortable?