Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. -William Morris, 19th century architect This is the mantra running through my head lately as Ive been spring cleaning—we made a donation run to the thrift store yesterday, as I shared earlier today, and I see several more in our future this month. As I handle our possessions, I ask myself these two questions: Is it beautiful? and Is it useful? If I can answer yes to both, awesome—that items a keeper. If one answer is yes, thats still doing alright. But if both answers are no, that means its time for the thing to find a new home. Now, Ive learned to be pretty generous with the definitions of beautiful and useful, mostly because I need to widen my circle to include the four other people in my family. This means that LEGO are beautiful and useful, at least to some people in this house. Certain magazines? Theyre useful and/or beautiful, too, at least for a season—until they overstay their welcome and need to be enjoyed in another home. Even paperwork—sometimes its useful, so it needs to stay and be filed away... but I can get rid of the opened envelope it came in. Stuff like that. This is simple, but its not always easy. If youre currently decluttering and it feels overwhelming, give yourself grace and remember to go slow. Most of the time theres no deadline to simplifying. Tackle one thing at a time. Then another. Then another. It may not feel like much, but every time you take a box of stuff out of your house, youre giving yourself more room for the things you love—more time, more visual peace, less cleaning, ample space for the things you love. Im right there with you right now, weeding through boxes in the garage. (If youd like more info about simple organizing, head here: lvsm.pl/rAo4Di
Posted on: Mon, 14 Apr 2014 19:00:00 +0000
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