Finding Contentment

Clean Slate

“As you start your program to reduce clutter, the guideline is easy: If you haven’t used it in a year or more, get rid of it.”
Elaine St. James

Americans have gone from an average household of two bedrooms, one bath, approximately 1000 square feet in the 1950’s to an average household of more than 2000 square feet, three bedrooms, three bathrooms, eat-in kitchen, formal dinning room, living room, TV room, 2-3 car garage, and office or library in 2000. And that’s not enough—most of us also pay for off-site storage units.

I remember when my former mother-in-law began giving me dishes, clothes and knick-knacks from her house. She was in her early 60’s and I was half her age. I happily accepted everything she handed out, wondering why on earth she would get rid of such great stuff. Now, when I run across her ‘gifts’ in my own house, I think, ‘oh, yeah, now I understand.’

There is an acquisition phase in life when everything is on the rise—our job responsibilities, our families, our expendable income. We think we need more ‘stuff’ and we do. But what we think we need is way over the top. Have you noticed what young people buy to accommodate a new baby? Besides the crib and car seat, they ‘need’ a jogging stroller that accommodates more than one child and a diaper bag the size of a suitcase, a pop-up play pen complete with musical mobile, a sanitary changing pad, a jumping/swinging child seat, a collapsible bath tub, and the list goes on and on.

Thankfully, we come to our senses. At some point we look at the fact that we have to keep buying ever larger houses to accommodate all our ‘stuff’ and see what a crazy game we’re playing. That’s when the disposition phase kicks in and we start hauling the cumulative ‘must haves’ of a lifetime to the thrift store or the Dumpster. It’s time to get rid of all this stuff I never use, we say, handing a box of grandmother’s china to our daughter-in-law.

There is a great sense of freedom in getting rid of all the things that clutter up our lives. Once the closets are cleared out, we can start on the basement and then the garage, and eventually, all those outside commitments that take up time and resources. We pare down our list of ‘friends’ to only those whom we actually love and enjoy. We begin to understand that we don’t need so very much to be contented.

Getting clear,
Jane