I started minimalising in 2014. When I first started, I was putting a bag a day into my car to take to goodwill. Now I'm down to about a bag every other week as I run out of things to give away more and more. I also drastically reduced my time on media as well. And decided to minimize my wardrobe as well as my meals. I've stopped buying things too. I pretty much only buy groceries and a few necessities such as clean underwear. But that is it. I have no desire to buy anything else anymore.
Here's the result: I have more time.
I think I was worried about having extra time. Like maybe I would be bored or bland or something. But I am able to see people I really like, sleep more, take long baths and I am starting to become creative. The opposite of creative is destructive. And I didn't really realize before how the things in my life were destructing and destroying my capacity to be.... Creative.
In six weeks, I have done the following:
1) made my first neck cowl and fingerless gloves with crochet and yarn.
2) made 25 friendship bracelets with my daughter.
3) propagated 100 plants for spring planting.
4) cooked and baked a lot more.
5) hiked and played with my daughter outside.
6) made a scrapbook with my daughter of her baby photos.
7) taught my daughter how to weave on a loom.
8) taught my daughter how to sew.
9) I played several games of solitaire.
I must note, these are things I've been trying to do for almost a decade. A decade! And I yet I managed to get them done in a few weeks. Just by simply removing distractions. Number nine is funny for me because I have been wanting to play solitaire since I was a kid. I finally made it happen and I keep a deck of cards close by me at all times.
I love crocheting so much I recently ordered more yarn. My husband is very supportive of it and is building me my own custom made shelves to put in the living room to hold our craft projects. These will also hold my daughters art supplies (who is also becoming more creative being around me). We currently have no shelves in our house. Not a single one. So this is a big deal and it feels very intentional for me. I've been dreaming of two corner shelves for a long time. The top two shelves will hold my plants. I have a love for all things green and living. The bottom shelves will hold our current arts and crafts supplies and these will hide behind the furniture so you won't be able to see them. I must put an emphasis on "current projects" because I don't believe in hanging onto unfinished craft projects. I put a lot of thought into the yarn and pattern I wanted before buying it. I wanted to make sure it would hold my interest and that they were colors I loved. I also picked up crocheting recently because it allows me to be present in a room with my daughter and husband and feeling productive at the same time. I like the behavior it models to my daughter as well. I am eating and snacking less and it keeps me off the internet as well. The Internet provides too much temptation to shop and buy things so this is really a wonderful strategy for me.
But back to having more time. Gone are the days of me secretly resenting other super moms or moms who embody Martha Stewart. And not because I am one of them by any means but because I'm actually more and more satisfied with what I am doing with my time for the first time ever. I'm doing the things I WANT to do.
A while back I sat down and wrote a list of the top ten things I want to be doing in my life on a regular basis. They were not "bucket list" things but very simple things such as "spend more time with my family and people I love," "be kinder to the earth," "travel with my family," and so on. And what I found was that many of the things I was currently doing on a day to day basis (cleaning, organizing, buying things, spending time on the phone checking facebook stats, etc) were not the things I really wanted to be doing. In fact, they didn't even make the top 100 list and yet here I was wasting my time every single day doing them. And not only was I wasting my time doing them, they were taking me further and further away from that top ten list.
Never again will I let that happen.
When I finish my next yarn project, I will come back and share photos.
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