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I always think back to my childhood and visiting my mom’s parents – my maternal grandparents. They lived very simply while raising 4 kids in a small house that used to actually be a goat house. When I think back, It really gets me to thinking how truly simple life was every day not just when the mood strikes us.
My grandparents actually purchased the goat house with the piece of land from their neighbors. It was literally a goat house that was used to shelter goats, milk goats, and feed goats so imagine the vision they had to have to convert that to a house that they would live and raise children in.
My grandparents had 4 kids. When walking into their house, you walked directly into the living room and off to the right side they dedicated half of the living room for 3 girls. My uncle as the only boy had his own room in the back of the house next to my grandparents bedroom.
Their house had a small kitchen and one bathroom. That is it. No family room, no dining room, no office, no rec room – nothing but 3 bedrooms, small living room, small kitchen and a bathroom with 6 people living in it. Do you know what? They were happy. When my grandfather passed away, my grandmother remained in the house as it was paid in full and she didn’t have to worry about where she would live without her husband.
Today we get so wrapped up in buying, buying, buying. When you take a step back and really think about it, WHY do we need so much stuff? We really don’t but we want to look good or we want people to think we’re doing well financially with the big house we live in. Ask yourself the question why? Why do you really care what other people think of what you are wearing, what you are driving, where you live, how many times you go out to dinner, and the list goes on and on.
Looking at my own house, I have been able to downsize significantly and continue to work through the house room by room. My living room and kitchen are in one big space that I have completely uncluttered. How does this feel? WONDERFUL!! We live on a farm in a rural part of Florida and I have 5 rescue dogs that go in and out of the house all day long through their doggie door (this in my opinion is the world’s GREATEST invention 🙂 – but if you don’t have dogs you may not know how important it is). My land is sandy so the dogs bring sand into the house all day. Since I’ve uncluttered the house, it takes me less than 10 minutes each morning to sweep up and dust the living room/dining room/kitchen combination space. 10 minutes is huge for me as I’m self-employed and do not want to spend a lot of time cleaning – I have different priorities in life.
Take a look around just one room in your house today and look at what you can get rid of. If you are not ready to get rid of something, simply take it out of the space and place it in a box until you are ready to deal with it. You may find that you really don’t miss that thing you put in the box. When you reach this point, add it to the list of items you plan to sell at your yard sale or donate to a good cause. The less things you have, the simpler life is. It really is this easy.
Have a wonderful day!
Denise
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