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Have any of you read this book? I just brought it home from the library today and, to be honest, I'm a little scared to read it. I went out for lunch yesterday, leaving Gerry and three of his friends to begin emptying the house for the much-anticipated floor refinishing. All the boxes I've filled over the past few weeks had to be moved out to the garage, along with all the smaller pieces of furniture in the house. When I got home and walked in, I found an empty dining room, a sparsely furnished living room, a bathroom that's down to the bare essentials, and a wide open expanse in the bedroom where our bed used to be. I love it this way.
I don't want to bring it all back in.
Now I know I'm never going to truly be a minimalist or live with only 100 personal possessions (for ANY period of time), but I am really beginning to see the advantages to paring back--way back--and reading this book or the author's blog might just set something in motion. I suppose I was primed for this reaction, considering the utter chaos this house has been in for the past few weeks. I also read The Moneyless Man recently which had gotten me thinking more about simplicity and consumerism. So I'm not going to do anything drastic just yet, but I'm going to use this time while the house is emptied out to really think about what I really need and why I'm hanging onto things.
Have any of you done a drastic paring down at any time? Do you try to live simply or minimally? Thoughts? Experiences?
P.S. Samina! You won the book giveaway, but I do not have your address! Drop me a line!
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8 comments:
I think I would be a bit scared to read that book, too. Eeep! :) I do try to live simply. I'm in my second year of my Thrifty 365 Pledge and when I purge things, I use my Useful, Meaningful, Joyful mantra.
http://www.rhinestonesandtelephones.com/2010/12/thrifty365-year-in-review.html
http://www.rhinestonesandtelephones.com/2010/12/useful-meaningful-joyful-thrifty365.html
I want to read that book so bad because I WANT to become that kind of person!
We're very pack-ratty with a tendencies to take in homeless things and hobbies and collections and two kids that have doting grandparents. We have Way. Too. Much. Stuff.
We also just moved and have discovered that we're ridiculous about the hoarding. So we've requested that book from the library, but there are a lot of people in front of us for it.
But I seriously can't wit to read it.
Probably any of us that have a computer also have more than we actually need or use and I think we all would be surprised at how little we could be by with if we actually had to.
A woman I used to work with retired and she and her husband moved from their very large home into a 37 foot boat. She had large walk-in closet and told us that the boat they were moving into was smaller than the closet. They had to sell or giveaway anything that was non-essential as there was not room on the boat to store them and as hard at it was in the beginning to part with all of those things, in the end she said it was very liberating not to be so tied to things and a materialistic lifestyle and was excited for the adventures that would follow and all of the interesting people they would not otherwise meet if they had not chose that path.
I can recommend a few blogs/websites:
www.missminimalist.com
www.simpleliving.net
zehabits.net
mnmlist.com
and I have more bookmarked on my laptop. All very inspiring!
oops, that should be
zenhabits.net
spelling!
Oh yes. I had not heard of this book, but I am trying to rid myself of stuff too. Buying more seems unavoidable, but I try to imagine the life cycle of everything that comes in...
I can't wait to see what you thought of the book though!
Oh how I'd love to....I get stuck with "should I give it to someone/take it to Goodwill/sell it at a yard sale". Reduce, reuse, recycle :)
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