Life Is Always A Work In Progress
It’s week two of my push for minimalism. I was humbled to read that a friend that made a cross country move from Colorado to Alaska last year has been “KonMaring” for over a year and a half now. It reminded me that minimalism will always be a work in progress. It won’t happen overnight. It’s a lifestyle change and will take work even after the initial full house purge is done.
AJ is partially on board. He doesn’t really want to have to go through his stuff personally. But, he is supporting my desire to spend less money on “things” and my want to get rid of my things, decorative things and things in general that just clutter up the drawers, shelves etc.
Now Emma, we will see how on board she is when we get to the heart of her toys. She was good going through her books and massive hair accessory collection. The stuffed animals and toys will be another story for sure. We started with her bin of balls and play food. She was OK with getting rid of some of these. I think it helps that she didn’t have to get rid of all her balls and all her food. It might not seem like a lot, but I take it as less to clean up. I went through her bath toys without her knowledge. We will see if she notices!
I can already feel a tremendous load off my shoulders. Instead of spending the time Emma is at school and classes shopping (online or in store), making returns etc., I have more time for working on my bullet journal, story pitches and articles. Thankfully the weather cooperated this week and all classes and school were a go too. I was able to make great headway with my bullet journal, did some major purging and pitched many new outlets on top of updating my Spark idea file with contacts, submission guidelines and story ideas.
On Motherly, Allie Casazza talks about how living minimally helped her enjoy motherhood again. She also has a free minimalism starter kit, so make sure to download it for more awesome tips! I especially love her 10-minute Declutter Challenge.
I am happy with this weeks progress highlighting the areas I went through on my KonMari checklist. I also fill with dread after I go through each category as I know the basement looms….. Lord help me!
Week 2 Takeaways:
- It is OK to start something and come back to it. I know that the idea of not being able to accomplish a task in one full swoop has stopped me from even starting before. If I am to ever get through this purge towards well being, it means starting, stopping and starting again has to be OK. And within feeling OK, I have to be open to the fact that may mean an area of the house is in shambles for longer than I like it.
- Being flexible is the key to accomplishing the checklist. Unlike in the KonMari book, I can’t accomplish my entire house purge quickly. I am not single. I stay home with a very active three year old involved in classes, and I also want time for other things I find fulfillment in like reading and working out. I would rather not have to drag a tub of holiday decorations across the basement to the other side, but this way I can clean it out and watch Emma as she climbs and jumps in the jumpy castle. These are the flexible things I need to do to be able to make real progress.
Contest Time:
OK, I thought it would be fun to do a little contest on here. Send a photo of your worst area in the house to: adventureswithmylitleray@gmail.com by January 27th, 2017. I will pick a winner who will get a free copy of the book The Life-Changing Art of Tidying Up.
Later today, we are off to Tennessee Pass to spend a night in a yurt. I’ve been getting Emma excited about it by showing her photos of the inside of the yurt. We did a trial run on her little Nordic skis on the great singletrack trails we have in our backyard. She was all smiles and loved it! It’s going to be cold and snowy. It’s about a one mile trek to the yurt. Wish us luck!
Adventure On,
Courtney
adventureswithmylittleray 
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