Day 6 of my week of gratitude. I am thankful for having less! Yes, you read that right. I am grateful that we have less stuff than we did a year ago.
Having less stuff really changes your life. We always knew we had a lot of stuff. Moving so much really reinforces how much stuff we had but we never forced ourselves to completely purge until our move here. Because we moved so much we always kept the original boxes that things came in so that we could safely pack them up for the next move. We actually had to have a 3-bedroom house just so we had an extra room for the boxes. Well, we put other things in there too like holiday decorations, bookcases, the 3 plastic bins of family stuff that I brought from my Mom’s house when she passed away. Stuff, stuff, stuff.
Prior to our move here we got rid of most of our stuff. Some of it was easy to part with and some wasn’t. You can read about that here. We shipped 70 boxes. That’s it.
I have to say that I don’t miss most of it. As the holidays are here I think of things that we used to have, or I’ll see a photo of something and think…oh we don’t have that anymore. But overall…I really don’t miss it.
Cleaning is so much easier when you don’t have to move a bunch of stuff. Dusting is a simple chore now…I used to hate doing it because it meant shifting all of the stuff. Okay, let’s be honest here. I still am not a fan of dusting but, it really is easier without all the stuff! I’m grateful that there is less to move and less to dust.
As it is the holiday season and we got rid of so many of our decorations I have looked at things in the stores here and thought about buying stuff. But, my mind quickly goes to…why do I need it and where will I store it once the holidays are over. Plus, last Christmas when I had to sort through decorations and choose what to take and what to get rid of I packed things into a plastic bin. I obviously know some of what I packed because it is sentimental but there is a lot in that bin that I do not recall. It was a crazy time of our lives. So, do I really need to buy new stuff? No. Okay, I am not saying I won’t buy a thing or two, but it will have to be of a size that will still fit in the plastic bin. I am not adding to that.
So, there you have it. Less is more. I am grateful for having less. It is a wonderful feeling to be rid of the weight of all of that stuff.
The Winery Woman 