Minimalising...

Minimalising in all the right places

With the land around me asleep for the winter, any and all outside projects I may have had are temporarily on hold. Not that I was busting a move to get them done this year - this hasn't exactly been my sterling year for accomplishing much, or busting a move for that matter!  Between taking care of my own brood of young'uns and taking care of myself, things have been slow going here, even for everyday household type things. Once the cow was sold this spring things slowed down outside massively. Dairy cows are a lot of work, even non-lactating ones. Lots of attention. Lots of feeding. Lots of handling to keep her happy and easy to manage. Now that she's gone, Hubby generally goes outside to let chickens out before work, check on sheep and he's off. He does the lion's share of work out there, which isn't a whole lot now, fortunately.

One of the major projects I'm still working on is minimalising our possessions. Yes, we're going minimalist, or at least as much as we can with 5 1/2 kids. You know how people with lots of kids, or even just a couple of kids, have a hard time keeping up with it all? Yeah. It's reality. And the reality is in my home that I don't want to deal with trying to keep STUFF picked up constantly. I think I actually have an allergy to clutter. I get really, really irritated with things covering flat surfaces. I get sluggish, cranky and irritable if my living area is crammed full of stuff. I like minimal, streamlined, simple and open spaces. Maybe that's why I like living out in the country better. Hmmm..that makes a lot of sense, actually, now that I think about it. Really, if it weren't for my hubby and kids, I'd probably be a hermit in Alaska somewhere living in the bush. Chalk it up to my introvert nature. Anyway, so, given this 'allergy', there has to be a change. I don't enjoy cleaning. It's one of those things you have to do, but don't really want to do. And, with that in mind, we're purging the excess 'stuff' that gets drug out, stepped on and in generally in the way every time anyone does anything.

It's actually amazing how much 'stuff' people collect over the course of time. When the hubby and I got married he literally moved in with a suitcase. No, a duffle bag, and not a big one. I had a house already, but it was a small, circa 1923, 2 bedroom bungalow. I moved in with the smallest moving truck that U-Haul has in their fleet. I didn't have a whole lot of stuff. Then comes the wedding when people gift you a ton of things -some useful, and many more novel than practical- and you feel bad about giving them away. Like the shish kabob machine. Practical? No. Cool? Kinda. I think I've used it twice. Fondue set? Yup. Have we used it in the 5 years we've been married? Nope. But it's cool! I think. I don't think I've ever even opened it, now that I think about it! Just with everyday living we accumulate 'stuff'. Junk mail. Grocery ads. Happy Meal toys. Over time it just piles up. So, with me being pregnant and not able to do much besides sorting and light cleaning, I'm doing just that - sorting and light cleaning. I've got a donation stack going, and a garbage pile that is cleaned up every week. Have we used it in a year? Nope. Sometimes the answer is Yes, and even then I have to look at it and ask myself : 'Do I like this enough for it to take up valuable space in my life?'. If the answer to that is 'Er, uh, well, maybe' - it goes. If it's no, obviously, it's gone. Very few things have made the 'Yup, it's needed' cut so far. And it's one extremely liberating, true happiness inducing feeling to turn over your living space into something fresh and new. Throwing out the relics of the past to make way for the adventure of tomorrow is exciting. It's an adventure and I don't even need to leave my home. Maybe, just maybe, before this baby comes I'll have things kinda sorted through here so I can finish painting and other home improvement DIY projects. It's wishful thinking, but at this point it's something to work toward while I sit at my kitchen table with a hot cup of tea, resting my achey pregnant bones and wistfully gaze out the window at the snowy pastoral landscape and dream.