An extremely neat minimalist

This past year I've given a lot of thought to the wisdom of traveling light, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Physical things, my mission president used to say, take time to maintain. They take up space. Travel light - not just with the two bags you lug around as a missionary, but as a general life philosophy. Share rather than accumulate. Simplify rather than complicate. Unburden rather than get bogged down.

It's interesting to watch people implement this principle. Some of my friends sold most of what they owned before moving cross-country. In my previous job, I had some clients I respected quite a bit who adhered to the 100 thing challenge, meaning every member of their family was allowed only 100 personal things. They realized it was a little extreme, and perhaps not for everyone, but for them, it was a means to an end - the end goal of focusing on relationships and experiences rather than things.

So in this spirit, yesterday I cleaned out my closet. I now have three happy garbage bags full of clothes and shoes sitting on my balcony waiting for a new home, prepared to join the one bag I filled last month with items from my kitchen. It's liberating. Anyone who knows me will attest I'm no clothes hound. Clearly, I was no longer wearing these things, so why hoard them? It's possible somebody else may benefit from them.

Earlier this year my sister-in-law was blogging about the adjustment to parenthood, and wrote what I consider a fairly hilarious paragraph about my brother. I later told them I could see a future spouse writing the same thing about me, and they both grinned. Here's what she said:

"If you know my husband well at all you will know he is neat. Neat as in very tidy. I don't know any guy that is neater. If it were up to him our bed would be made every day. He always has things put away and a place for everything. He doesn't like things around. For example, we don't keep a toaster on our counter, it is in the pantry. The only appliances on our counters are our microwave and Kitchen Aid. He reads the newspaper every morning but always puts it away when he is done. I have never made him a "Honey Do" list because he is always ahead of me. He doesn't like to have a lot of stuff on the walls and he doesn't like to have a lot of furniture. He likes open space. It makes him feel comfortable - like he has more room to move around. He is an extremely neat minimalist. (So, as you can imagine all the stuff that comes with a baby was quite an adjustment). He will frequently go through and put Abby's stuff in one section of our living room or things like that..."

I find spring cleaning this time of year incredibly refreshing and invigorating (at least, after I'm done with it). Feeling lighter is such a great way to ring in the new year. This year I might even go get some black-eyed peas to eat. It's about time I became a true Southerner.

p.s. When I told my dad today about my three happy bags, he quoted me Baa Baa Black Sheep: "Three bags full; One for the master, And one for the dame, And one for the little boy who lives down the lane." Sometimes I have this sneaky feeling I'm quite a bit like my father. I suppose I share traits in common with both the men in my family.