Simple

We’ve been living in temporary lodgings for about a month now. A project that was meant to take a week, has stretched to about five, deadline extensions meted out in increments of  ‘just a couple more days.’

As I was shifting the contents of our three rooms into the holding space, I was astounded by the vast quantities of crap we have accumulated: toys packed away ages ago that have never been missed; clothing that no one really loves kept, ‘just in case’; bits and bobs, broken odes and ends, things that lined my shelves that I was never even that fond of; charges and electronic nonsense various and sundry that we held onto because, well, I’m not even sure. Most of this stuff is junk. Pure, valueless junk. 

Frankly, I was sort of disgusted by the excess. An entire room filled top to bottom with junk. All these toys we have, and my kids still complain about boredom. All the clothing in my closet and I’m still convinced that I have nothing to wear. Despite the food in the fridge and the contents of my pantry, there’s nothing for dinner. And here were are, living in a country where so many would jump at the chance to have half our junk.

Meanwhile, my kids have been fairly content with the limited selection of toys that we brought with us. I’ve been, actually, happy with just a handful of outfits to wear.

Best of all, tidying up in the evenings has been fairly simple. Just a quick pass through the living room picking up a few toys. That’s it. 

With fewer things sharing the energy of our space, we’ve been feeling a bit lighter. I’m less scattered when there are fewer messes to fret over. And, related or coincidental, Stella has been behaving much better recently. 

We are nearing the end of our exile, (I HOPE!!!) and when we do move back in, only a small selection of our belongings are coming with us. There’s going to be a massive toy clear out. A huge closet clean up, a culling of junk, a major pruning of the toy box.  And I hope, a this lightness that we’ve been feeling in our less cluttered hotel room will accompany us as we get back into our space.