sfnest Alison, I think this is the best post I've ever read on Houzz - so moving, and so personal. Congratulations on, well, everything. Your clear sight will help so many people live in the home they want to live in.

cillisa Wonderful ideabook. Happy to hear that you were able to save your writings. Very engaging story.

diyjames Alison, this is such an inspirational ideabook. It's beautiful and concise.

Joanne Sotto the best Houzz article ive ever read, so unexpected it left me teary-eyed. its like a mild slap on the face to make me realize that i sometimes tend to get too busy with the mundane and overlook the essential ones that make me truly happy. thank you...

kennedytarheel Your ability to sift through what is important in life, and what is not, encourages me to do the same. I was challenged to find areas in my home and life that need to be cleansed. Thanks for one of my all time favorite Houzz articles. :)

Bernadette Cantwell I'm currently between houses while waiting on settlement on our new home. We are staying (almost camping) in a friends rental cottage with just the bare essentials and I feel so contented and had already decided that the difference is the lack of stuff demanding I do something with it. I was almost dreading moving into our new home. We had already decluttered as we packed our old house but I have now decided that as we move into the new home I intend to only unpack only what we need or love and everything else goes off to goodwill. Now I'm looking forward to a real new start!

Diana Bier Interiors, LLC Great article! Agreed that it's one of the best I've read on Houzz, very moving.

I too have spent the last 3 or 4 months decluttering, organizing, and purging my house of unwanted items. I've gone through the basement, the kitchen, and numerous closets and drawers. Although I am by nature a very neat person, it is still difficult since I've been in this house for 30 years. Interesting that I have fewer issues with getting rid of my own stuff than parting with my children's memorabilia!

It is indeed liberating to have serene, simple surroundings. Love the William Morris quote--I will keep that in mind for the future.

midmodfan "You may feel shame about the money you’ve wasted, but holding onto stuff you don’t want or need is not the answer."

This is so true! I never really thought about it, but when I went through our stuff before we moved last year, this is what I felt: guilt and shame. Why did we ever buy things we didn't need? Giving them all away was liberating and I don't miss a single thing. And we were already rather minimalist, compared to most people.

Another interesting experience: we couldn't unpack our moving boxes because we had no closets for several weeks. Life was like camping within a house. It taught us that we could do with really very little, and after unpacking we dumped more loads of unnecessary stuff.

Thank you for this ideabook. It is full of valuable experience and I promised myself to re-read it every now and then.

Lisa Fachiri What a timely piece of writing - this is exactly what I am going through at the moment. I am desperate to create some order in our home (and therefore my head!). We have five children so it is especially challenging and I yearn for those days when you walk back in to a room to find it as you left it half an hour ago! However, Spring is nearly here and I am feeling extremely motivated at the moment. No doubt there will be days when it all gets too much, I will be heading back to this page for a re-read!

pariscafe A great article Alison. So timely for me as well. I have had decluttering forced upon me not that I was ever a hoarder. In 2011 we lost our home to flood waters when the river broke its bank and turned our suburb into a sea of water and mud. One point eight metres went through the house itself. When we fled the house we only took what could fit in the car. Everything else was destroyed including the house which was eventually demolished. For the past two years I have been discovering how little I can get buy with. The new house we built has lots of empty spaces which in reality do not need to be filled up. We love the minimalist look of the house and deciding what to wear no longer takes ages. I am sad, no not sad, disappointed that we no longer have some precious momentos but on the other hand we are actively creating new memories now. I wouldn't wish on anyone what happened to us as the stress nearly destroyed us all however two years later I can say it was oddly cleansing.

drealyons Completely agree this is the best post. Just yesterday I was saying, "Forget cleaning out the office - we just need to torch it." Glad your latest alarm was just a false one.

onnie128 Fabulous! I went through the process of helping my parents get rid of all their possessions as they transitioned into student housing after my father decided to go back to school in retirement. I felt so happy for them and envious, really. When I got home, I started explaining how I felt to my husband and within the year we sold our 2300 square foot four bedroom home and moved to an 1100 square foot loft condo in a converted cotton mill. We got rid of everything, digitized our music and photos, copied movies to hard drives, many books went to the library and we invited friends to back up their vehicles to the garage and take what they wanted. We gave our patio furniture and grill to our realtor, family heirlooms to my brother, and after everyone had taken what they wanted and we had moved only the essential possessions to the new place, while we were waiting to close on the house, we had an estate sale person come in and run a two day sale to sell what was left. We have never looked back. Every so often I have a pang when I realize I let something go that I wish I still had, but mostly I forget what it was a moment later, so I know that it could not have been that important. What a great article. Check out Miss Minimalist's website...she was another source of inspiration during this process. http://www.missminimalist.com

tradess2012 wow, again we all agree,,,,,love Bernadette's comments....like her, I am awaiting closing of my new home thus living in a one studio hotel room....and I like it....will carefully unpack, sort, discard as soon as I move in....thanks all!

Roz Willmott_Dalton Agree with others, one of the best articles I've read on Houzz.
Perfectly timed for us, also. I can relate to much of what you've mentioned. I'm in the process of sorting through my Mum's home, as she has gone into a resthome. oh what a nightmare job. Giving away things is so much of a nicer feeling, I have found, in comparison to selling.. in this instance anyway.
Yes, isn't it interesting what you grab in an emergency, never what you necessarily think it would be, when not in that moment of adrenalin pumping terror. Two years ago we lost our home, like hundreds of others, in a major earthquake. We were lucky and were able to salvage the vast majority of our things. But in that fleeting moment, what were the things I grabbed....photos, important documents and vital drugs? NO!, instead, two bags of fabric - as I knew it would keep me calm, and a box of Lego for our son!
All of our possessions are in boxes, waiting to be given the major sorting - thank you for this perfectly timed article

buitenhuis Best post i've read on houzz! Glad to hear your family is all safe. I was drawn to this post because i could totally relate to your pre fire troubles. The truth is 'stuff' is always unimportant and our biggest problem is we simply have way to much of it!

kitter Another good alternative to Craigslist & Goodwill is Freecycle, especially for furniture and electronics. My parents' beds went to a battered mother setting up a new home, their computer table went to a man setting up his parents' 1st computer, etc. etc. Made me feel good to give useable stuff directly to people who needed it.

penthousenester I have downsized from a large five bedroom suburban home to a city apartment in the past year. Cleaning out after 25 years was a wrenching experience at times not to mention a lot of hard work. However I highly recommend it! With the exception of my garden (but I have plans for a terrace garden now!) I simply don't miss anything. We moved furniture that I ultimately gave away to our painters in the new home, as it didn't work in our new life. It is truly better to give than receive as they appreciated it more than I probably ever did. We hopefully have a number of years left but when we are gone our children will have a lot less to deal with. I've heard the horror stories and who wants "stuff" to be their legacy?? It will never trump wonderful memories!

ebova Wouldn't it be nice to have a relative, like a brother, to take the family heirlooms.

dchendry I agree with all the other posters that sorting through possessions can be very invigorating. My husband and I are in the middle of a whole house remodel and are living in our 35' camper. We are in our 3rd month of living small. Before the remodel began I started boxing up stuff to give away to our local resale shop that benefits the food bank. Took 4 car loads of stuff to give away and can't wait to give more. Our 2 car garage at the moment looks like something from the Hoarders tv show. Stuff crammed and packed to the rafters. Hopefully we will be able to begin the process of moving back into our home in another month and I intend to move only those things that are absolutely necessary and/or loved. You can live with a lot less "stuff" than you think you need.

catclawrose In 1961, my Aunt,(a homemaking teacher), and my Uncle,(a pharmacist), and their very young Daughter, moved into what we had always called "The Old Home Place", a historic home, built in the late 1800's, near the Gulf Coast of Texas. My Grandparents, who had always lived in the home, had just bought a bait camp, on the lovely San Bernard River, and, to give their Daughter and her family a place to live, had moved into one of the weekend cabins, to give them room. (My Grandmother said she would never know what possessed her to only take the sterling bud vase that had been a wedding gift to her, and the six oak chairs, that had been brought with my Granfather's family, when they moved to Texas, from Kansas, but that's all she had taken from the house). My Dad and my Uncle, both married and with small children also, had just built their own homes, but had not moved any of their things out of the old home place yet. My Aunt, always the "fixer", decided to renovate and update the house. Her new appliances were stored in the detached garage, and, thank goodness, the original house plans were at the architect's office in Houston,(this architect would go on to help design the Astrodome !). On March ist, Texas Independence Day, she recieved a call, telling her that her house was on fire. When she arrived home,(after a DPS unit pulled her over, saw her tear-stained face, and foolishly let her go on), the house was fully engulfed, and the little volunteer fire department was working valiently to save the garage,(they did), and the areas around the house. A total loss. All the family antiques, from England and Germany, everything. I can barely remember certain rooms in the home, I was the oldest Grandchild, at 9. Well, our family is apparently good at regroupng, because my Grandparents moved to one of the smaller cabins in the campground, and put my Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin into the one they had been living in. the church, and many friends, gave a huge shower, and, including the saved new appliances, they were in pretty good shape, to hopefully rebuild, at some point. Until September of that same year. Hurricane Carla decided to visit the Texas coast, wreaking death and destruction in it's path and wake. We weren't spared. The house that my Aunt and her family were in,(up nearly 12 feet, on massive pilings), was pretty much destroyed. The one my Granparents lived in by then, above a vintage store building on the property, had nearly 16' of water in it. So my Aunt tells people,"You know, I know how it feels to lose everything twice, in the same year, but it taught me that it's only stuff. I cried over it, but realized that my family was still here, and that's the best, and most important part".
I own an estate sale business, so I am now in the business or rehoming thousands of items, and have donated many thing to families who have lost their homes. There, but for the Grace of God, go I.....

kschmitz4 I have similar thoughts when we go on vacation - the stuff in our bags is really all we need. I agree and can relate with all 7 tips about going minimalist. Great article. Very inspiring.

cdallke Wow. Perfectly written and inspiring. Thank you.

Amanda W. Very good, and inspiring article!!

modernrachel Alison, I agree with a previous poster, this is one of the best articles I have read on Houzz. It's practical but also a little spiritual. I was moved by your experience and motivated by your advice. Thank you!

georgealexander Great article. I've just finished a major reno, having put my belongings in storage. My motto on moving back in is 'if I don't like it AND use it, it isn't coming back in'. But it's difficult.

hannahz2 Also, stop bringing things in. Every time you bring something in, take something out. :)

quilter131 Please don't feel guilt or shame when disposing of "stuff". We all make choices or decisions throughout our lives and we make the best choices based on who we are at the time drawing upon our knowledge, experiences and influences. If you're old enough to look back then you need to realize you are not the same person you were back then. You have gained more knowledge, experiences and those influencing you could be different people. You have changed for the better and you're moving on. Give that "stuff" away and know that someone else will have the opportunity to enjoy it as much as you have.

Also, don't fret at the money spent. Consider what the item cost you and divide that by the number of years you have owned it. The cost per year will seem more reasonable and not a waste of money.

jbyork Alison, this is the most wonderful, eye-opening, article I have read in a long time. Thank you for your inspiration. As some of the comments stated below, 'your clear sight will help so many people'.

dreambee What a moving article! Thank you so much for that! And thank you so much for being an inspiration and for how you have dealt with all of this!

librarybev Thank you for the article...how timely. I will be downsizing soon. I have already made a list of what to keep, what to get rid of and what I would like to take with me if there's room. After reading this article and suffering with a friend who lost her home to a fire this week I am going to revisit my "keep" and "like to keep" lists. It really is time for a fresh new start!

annalisak Excellent article as I struggle to downsize. I'm loving the idea of living in a smaller house, and read articles about living in a tiny house, but actually getting rid of all this stuff that I'm not using is easier said than done. I'm working on it though! :)

danacorrine Inspiring. I've been working to create a more zen esthetic. This was very motivating as we retire, sell our dc townhouse, live in a transition country house while we build our home right next to my daughter and her family. I am loving this opportunity and the William Morris comment shall be my mantra. Love the responses to this article-clearly this is spot on for so many of us.

Ellen Miller Thank you for making me feel normal! I have been "minimalizing" for the past 3 years, but it wasn't until the past few months where I have gone hardcore. I just love the look of "less" and not bumping into clutter at every turn. The quote “Have nothing in your house you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” has been my mantra! I have been rewarding myself with new things like beautiful salt and pepper shakets. I know that sounds weird, but after getting rid of the plain ones and getting something that I just love, has made a huge difference on my decision on getting rid of things. I use the money that I've made off selling stuff I now longer want. This is excellent advice and I'm living proof that it works!! Thank you so much for posting this, I feel even more inspired knowing that I'm on the right track and not alone!

jocketterider I could have written this article! My "go to" question is always, "If the place was on fire, what would you grab?"
I don't miss or need the stuff. I liked your three standards-books, food and clothes!

wantsideas Thanks for sharing your experience with us. For those that can't part with stuff, start with not bringing in anything new. I've found over the last few years that I have saved a lot of money by questioning each and every purchase. Do I really need this? Do I already have something similiar? Or another trick, for one item in two items out.

Darcel Gary I agree.. this article rocks. I just moved into a new home with lots of space and for a while we were filling it up. But I have hit the brakes and now just want everything gone, so many knicknacks and so many clothes and other things that just need to go. This was very helpful. I shall do one room at a time. KUDOS Alison

katwishing Such a timely article for me as well... I'm in the throes of de-cluttering and reorganizing our home. And I'm so glad the writer was able to salvage her computer in the fire (although, of course, people and animals are the first priority, as the writer said). I couldn't imagine losing all my own writing and photographs. This article is reminding that I should invest in online "cloud" storage.

Julie Webster "killing me softly" with her article! oh my goodness! Are we twins! ha! I too was left a bit teary eyed, but also feel bolstered... thank you... and as others have commented... this is the best article I have read yet...

hillonthehouse What a wonderful article, Alison, and what a terrifying thing to go through. I'm so glad you and your family are well. I've also enjoyed reading the comments here. This is a timely article for me because we're readying our home of 25 years for sale and planning to move to our smaller cabin. The nice thing about the cabin is there's not so much stuff and we just bring in our food and clothes and current book(s) for a visit. I will move some of my family antiques to the cabin and switch out some furniture, but I have so much to get rid of. The kids will get the things they want and have room for (they don't have much room, either); I plan to sell the nicer heirlooms (silver and such); and will share other family mementos with my brother and his family if they want them. (Already gave my grandmother's china to my niece.) The rest I'll donate or trash. I, too, tend to collect books, and laughed when you narrowed your choices down to food, clothes, and books. There are no bookshelves in the cabin - something we'll have to remedy before we move (problem with very little wall or floorspace), but will have to get rid of so many. I gave 82 books to the library a couple of months ago and that didn't make a dent. I don't have an e-reader, but see one in my future. But going through this rather painful process, I'll hark back to your words. Thanks for the inspiration.

setsayle "It’s a peculiar experience to have sorted through all my possessions, to have gotten down to what I thought I could not live without, only to lose everything and find I was able to live without it all."

This line is so powerful, so moving, I stopped and read it several times before going on. Beautiful piece, thank you for sharing.

sarah haslem It's been said in previous comments but it warrants being said again. Wonderful article; inspiring and thought evoking.
Thank you for sharing such a life changing experience. I will definitely be forwarding this article on to others.

countrylegal Thank you for such a great article. I just began the process of simplifying my possessions, as well as my obligations. It is a difficult process but this article encourages and inspires me!

katietibbitts having moved many times in my adult life, I have been forced before each move to confront what I am planning to take (or not take). It is a wonderful exercise and at the end of it, I feel freed and lighter each time. I can't imagine how hard it would be to do this while remaining in one place. Good for you. I'm just sorry that you had the tragic event following all your efforts. It is a terrible irony.

jahilton Your words have obviously resonated with many, many people. It is a joy to read others' comments, and realize we have so much in common. Having lived in Florida for over 40 years, I had a list of "must-takes" in case of evacuation. I ran across this list the other day (when again sorting through papers) and laughed. Buckets of photos, family heirlooms, files, souvenirs and touching greeting cards--not to mention the 3 dogs we had at the time. Then I spent 7 months in my daughter's house while doing chemo and radiation. I had my room, with some books, my computer, a CD player, and my favorite clothes. I had access to the kitchen. I was totally happy. When I returned to Florida, I went through the house ruthlessly tossing out what I realized I did not need and which were a burden to my peace of mind. ("Books, clothes, food.") I have repeated this several times over the past 6 years, finally letting go of my daughters' drawings since they were 2 or 3 years old and tossing photos which had not been viewed in 20 years or more. I think now of what my girls will do with what is left. (Some of us call this 'preparing our estate.') I plan to sell the antique dolls tomorrow, and learn how to digitalize more than just my photos. My thousand books will be kept until my girls donate them to the library. Now don't laugh, I inherited my parents house in California and they lived into their 90s and never threw anything away!

bubblyjock Alison - just wanted to add my voice to the chorus saying thank you for this enlightening, thought-provoking article. You write with unparalleled brevity, clarity and openness, much appreciated.

sandihouzz Most of the time on TV shows that involve house hunting, the family wants to move because they do not have enough room for things. I think to myself that they should just get rid of things and then they can live comfortably and happily in their home. Americans too often think "bigger is better," but that is not the case. Less is more. I've lived abroad and American furniture is so over-sized and cabinetry is not functional. Designers need to think about being clever with space, and offering consumers small-scale choices.

lessismoore Beautiful, thought-provoking piece. Deserves a better title, as there is so much that is "literary" here, even though it is filled with practical advise. And I mean that as a sincere compliment.

stefspad Allison - I've always loved that first photo, with all the vintage-clad pillows. Did you use that and the two that follow to illustrate what a cluttered room looks like?

riconsd Wait so your not suppose to go back for your purse; so Mom did do it wrong. We where "lucky" and the fire only took out a corner of the house, but smoke, water, and heat (the Loewy wall phone at the other end of the house melted but still worked) required a gut reno.

Thanks for sharing and my Mom is the one to have around when organizing. She has a 5 count rule: its just less than 3 seconds and you have to come up with why it is being saved and when you used it last, only ten peremptory challenges are available per area.

Alison Hodgson Thank you, everyone, for reading the post and taking the time to comment. When it was in draft I read the opening to my sister—who is Type A in a nice way—and she was shocked by my fire fantasies. I told her, "I know there are people who are going to understand it, exactly."

Side note: the house I dreamed about going up in flames was our first home, our second home was where I abandoned the fantasy after we remodeled the kitchen first thing. It still took me years to get my act together and about six months to go through the house, once I did. An organized friend to help and guide was KEY.

I'm going to continue writing about de-cluttering, organizing and the idea of home.

gypsyrose17 For your children's art and toys, move it all into their bedrooms and let them decide what is keep, trash and donate, you'll be amazed at what they will get rid of. Also teach them one new toy means getting rid of an old one, its important to teach your cildren to be charitable and not hoarders.

Alison Hodgson stefspad, that's my idea of a beautiful home. To me, minimalism is having what you love, but not a bit more than you can maintain. It's different for everyone. These images were taken from ideabooks I created while rebuilding. They are my idea of home: clean, homey, bright and inviting.

deannakate When I'm decluttering, one idea I love and find useful is that of helping your things "find their heaven." If I've got an item I love, but don't really use, I remember that there's someone out there that will both love and use it. And I think, "How sad for this thing not to be used!" So I try to help it find it's heaven, where it will be both appreciated and used. That makes me happy for the item and for the person who will have it and focuses my mind away from my own loss. Anticipating this thing in its heaven (rather than sitting unused in my space), I feel very happy to let go of it.

lynnenagel What a beautiful article. Our family just suffered a house fire this October and we are still in the process of rebuilding. We lost every thing. How true it is that even my most treasured possessions are measured meaningless against the safety of my family. We lost a couple beloved pets but in the scheme of things our family is still intact. I am blessed to tuck my beautiful little girls in bed each night and then curl up in my husbands arms. Stuff is truly just stuff. We have been so blessed by this season in our life. I am so looking forward to moving into our new home with a very organized, very minimalistic approach. ---"I count it all as loss compared to the surpassing worth, the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and Savior."

CAROLE MEYER This is a wonderful and very helpful post.

michellewoods Great article. I love to de-clutter but can still do so much more. As much as possible when it comes to clothes - we bring something new in, something has to go. People are always shocked at how empty our closets are, but how many clothes do we need? As a previous person mentioned, the feeling when we walk away from the house with a few suitcases to go on holidays feels awesome. Our family and some clothes, what else do we need?!

cboyle0211 GREAT and totally relevant article!! I, too, have had the cottage "revelation", noting that there wasn't much there and yet we were NEVER without anything we needed. In addition, I recently moved and had to fill out a form of what was most valuable...I was surprised that photos a set of glasses my sister and I purchased together in Mexico and a collection of my daughters were the only 2 "things" i felt somewhat strongly about...I knew everything else could be replaced (or not) pretty easily, and it was an eye-opener as to what really matters. Moving helped me "purge", but I still have more to go...step by step!!

ringtons With three daughters and a semi-hoarder husband, I've often fantasized about the house burning down and starting again. I will not do that again. But I will get this place purged/organized, and decide how much square footage we really need. Simple=calm. Thank you so very much for the inspiration and direction.

tburnet I too have 5 children. I also am the youngest of a large family who likes to hand things down. My house was chock full of wonderful items that weren't my style, but were family heirlooms. I had three sets of pots and pans (handed down) that I saved because maybe my eldest kids could use them. I had toys I couldn't part with because someday, I may have grandchildren that would enjoy them.
Then the house burned down.
After the shock of being temp. homeless, I can't tell you how freeing it is to be rid of all those things! Other people's dreams. Starter home items. Outgrown clothes and toys. We are now being selective on what we replace. So much so that we probably won't recoup the contents value that we lost.
The worst mistake we made was shortly after the fire. We attended an auction and bought great deals without a plan. We may have to resell some of those things. They don't fit our vision. But I will get rid of them.
The best thing I did was correctly value my home and contents for insurance purposes. I resisted excluding things to save on premiums, even though, many times, we could have used those funds. I thank God every day for this. Though I must admit, I never imagined losing my home to a fire. My bet was on a tornado!

Jaclyn Freedman Alison,

I've never commented on something on Houzz before.. Mostly spend my time on here for work, but this post was truly something. I am not yet a mom, nor do I own my own home, but I can undoubtedly forsee feelings like this in my future! I have a feeling I will reflect back on this article many times in the years to come. I appreciate your candid openness, and the way you tied it all together. Truly beautiful. Thank you for sharing!

Jaclyn Freedman
www.JaclynFreedman.com

sandrapatricia2005 Feeling ready to start !! :) This is just what i need. Thank you !

deannakate Another thought: When I'm tempted to feel guilty over the money I've spent on some article I'm getting rid of (or really, any time I'm tempted to feel guilty over spending money that later I decide I shouldn't have spent), I say to myself, "Tuition! This is tuition from whatever I've learned here."

kskousen I needed this!

Meena beautiful.

bigmc714 While my "decluttering" didn't occur because of a fire, it was almost as traumatic. I left my husband of 25 years with only what I could fit in a pick up truck...it was the most liberating feeling, in so many respects.

I began to rebuild my life with only the things that I "knew to be useful or believed to be beautiful.”

As time passes, "useful and beautiful" can change. I am now getting ready to move to a retirement home in The Keys and will be "liberating" myself again from 12 years of build up. I can't wait!

Well said, Alison. Thank you.

daedreamer Articles like this can truly help one put things into perspective in a world where there can be a lot of wastage. Some peace of mind and soul(health) can be achieved. Thank you.

Jean Corey This was a good post, I liked that the "minimalist pictures" didn't scream factory workplace but showed comfortable home spaces. There were a lot of good thoughts that we can all learn from.

But now I would like to see an idea book on the other end of the spectrum: about people who love to collect and have a well organized, well curated, beloved full interior. Who find joy in plenty and having everything they need and want at arm's length. Don't forget the other part of William Morris's saying about it being alright to keep something if it is beautiful to you. Also an item's usefulness will vary from person to person. So what is frivolous for one person may be essential for someone else.

dwallberg Hello! I came upon your post in HOUZZ and just kept reading and enjoying your comments and sentiments regarding the creative journey .... making our houses into "homes" .... rebounding from misfortune ... Downton Abbey! Most of all, I really appreciate your down to earth and REAL home advice! So refreshing and helpful. Thank you and I hope you will write more on this topic and share how you are doing now.

Oh Michigan! To me it seems like a place full of good characters :) A few years back, I met some folks from Michigan and they are all my great friends to this day ... kind, colorful and intelligent people. We need that kind of energy in Oregon, where we all live now.

Diana Bier Interiors, LLC Jean Corey, there is an article about the other end of the spectrum! Search "beautiful clutter" and you'll find it. Just as with this article, it spawned an enormous number of comments!

suzannewheat Something has happened to me as I have grown to be over 60. Suddenly minimalism has become the way to go. A couple of years ago I decided to repaint my narrow entry hall (myself) because I didn't like the color. I, of course, removed everything from walls, electrical face plates, fixtures, etc. Upon completing the painting I surveyed the space & felt that it was beautiful empty. My motto has become, "There's nothing more beautiful than a great drywall job & an amazing paint color." Every day upon awakening, I ask myself, "What can I remove from this place that isn't necessary?" I used some odds & ends of wood to create what I call my "Nelson shelf." It's quite narrow & serves as a place for a small flower arrangement & to balance a framed drawing above. I also place interesting rocks that I find outside from time to time. When I was a child, the film "The Long, Long Trailer" made a huge impact on me. Lucy kept collecting rocks on the trip making the trailer so heavy that it nearly went over a cliff!!!

thegreenbee That's quite a story. I got the "urge to purge" last year, as we have been living in a house much smaller than the previous. There were boxes in the attic that had never even been opened because there was so much clutter as it was, and I felt strangled by it. I rallied my husband and began going through tons of stuff. We are still working on some of it, but now most of the clutter has been banished to the garage and attic (the final frontiers!). Being weeks away from having our second child has really been a great motivator!

Jean Corey Diana - I did enjoy some things about "Beautiful Clutter", but that is not quite what I am talking about either. In the first place when they label it clutter then the idea book isn't going the way I am looking for. I want to see something where "there is a place for everything and everything is in its place. Where there is a finely honed large grouping of objects that are well balanced and the composition is very pleasing to the eye, whether someone likes bountiful or minimalistic designs. I once had someone remark that they couldn't believe how many items I had in my china cabinet, yet it still looked so good. Balance and counter-balance of color, size, height, weight, style, etc. is the key, and can be so satisfying.

lavenderanhinga Allison, thank you for this WONDERFUL article. First, I'm glad everyone in your family was safe! It is surprising what we miss or don't miss when we lose things!
Twice I have moved into a smaller house and have gone through a sorting process. Both times it has felt liberating. Now I'm going through it for a third time in anticipation of another downsizing. I love it. I have also taught my daughter (age 10) to periodically go through her belongings and give away what she is no longer attached to or no longer using. We both love to decorate but life keeps getting simpler. And our hearts get fuller.

ellierea Absolutely wonderful article. Just what I needed to hear at the moment. Thanks for taking the time to write about your life's experiences to help and encourage others! You have been a blessing.

jaco741029 Dear Alison,
Your message could not come at a more opportune time. Bless you. And although you eventually benefited from the fire I am truly sorry that you had to learn such a harsh lesson.
When my husband and I built our first house (ok our only house), we never anticipated having 4 children. The result is much worse than a few stuffed toys and a box full of Lego. We also run a succesful business from home and I homeschool my children. Are you getting the picture yet? I have 2 bedrooms and 3 offices...!
Now we are adding to our home at last but instead of filling up new living spaces I feel the need to lessen and simplify. This article of yours was the fire to my kindle, thank you. And you write beautifully.

lsmcfarland52 This was a great read for me! I have been trying to downsize my 'stuff' for a few months now. I realize the waste of time and energy in maintaining too many extras in your life. This has some good insight . Again, Thanks!

crookwell Houzz site has to be my most favourite site in the whole wide world! I love it and look forward to seeing all the creative ideas that are shared and it gives me new inspiration for all my future projects.

johnandbrett What a good essay. Is the bottom photo of your current house, after you decluttered? I'd like to see more of what this looks like, when you've gotten down to the essentials you mention.

More Space Place Plano This is beautiful and inspiring. Thank you for this.

tamieg Love this post! You have put to words what I've been feeling for a while. Time to de-clutter! Thank you, Allison!

luisenriquemm Great piece!! Thank you for sharing! Inspiring ...

nina69 We closed on our home before the one we were moving in was renovated-completely unlivable. So I de-cluttered as I packed and we moved everything into our modest 2 car garage. We moved in with my in-laws with just our clothes, shoes and toiletries, things my kids need for school and our laptop and iPad. That's it! We've been here 3 weeks and don't miss all those extra things. Loved your article, thank you for sharing.

Alison Hodgson johnandbrett, the house which I de-cluttered burned down. If you look on my profile photos you can see a picture of the fire and the aftermath. The pictures in this post were taken from ideabooks I created while rebuilding. I'll try to take a picture tomorrow of my living room and post it.

j0dy Great article, thanks. Sorry about the fire but at the same time, it sounds like just what that family needed and hopefully have the things they want and need now. Thanks for putting things into perspective.

Jen Medos Homes Great post! I will "share" right away. Spring cleaning, here we come!
-Jen
Jennifer Medos Homes

bx2beach Thank you for a beautifully personal article. Our home flooded during Superstorm Sandy and our entire basement was destroyed (along with years of hoarded stuff). Gutting and dumping everything was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. It certainly has given me a new perspective on organization and storage as we rebuild.

Leanne Marsh What a great article. It puts it all into perspective. I claim to be "The Anti-Christ of Hoarding" as I pride myself on living a fairly minimalistic, clutter free lifestyle, however your piece has inspired me to go home and do some MAJOR sorting that I’ve been procrastinating about for some time. Thank you for the inspiration, Alison!

pjtime What a great piece you've written. Both my hubby and I are pack rats and collectors and in the 7 years we've been married I'd gone from organized and sparing (due to 5 moves in one year) to chaos. It's extremely debilitating. I've spent the last two years packing up all the stuff I thought I could get away with and most of our furniture was sold. I've been selling off stuff as time allows and plan to have a few garage sales this coming spring and summer. We moved into a much smaller home (but still have the bigger one at this time), and I'm having to fight with my husband to prevent stuff from migrating from the other house. I've lost two rounds, but have not given up. This house will be lean and mean!

It's stories like yours that hearten me to continue my paring down. I know we will feel better in our smaller home when the dust (from renovations) has settled.

belizeguy Sometimes the simplicity of the truth brings tears to my eyes.

Paul D'Amico - Period Design Decluttering is an excellent idea. But there is even better - I would suggest that before homeowners spend money on an excessive amount of storage they should ask themselves 'what do I really need?' This is certainly true for the kitchen where bespoke cabinetry adds to the budget but also the loft. How often do people re-use those dusty objects sitting in the loft? My parents were hoarders and clearing their home took me ages and what is the point of collecting junk? Maybe I'm too rational.

suzannewheat Yes, Paul. Rather than mourn over excessive $ spent in the past, I think it's better to make a commitment to try to do without and see how it goes. I always say to myself, "Do I really need this?" When my closet gets too full, it means things have to go rather than dreaming about a larger closet. How many pairs of shoes can you really wear? Thanks for making this point!

ginanyc This is actually the first post I've read on Houzz. I find it disconcerting to read the irony of your " wishing for a fire" and then being the victim of such a heinous crime. A little extreme. Glad to hear your family escaped the fire safely.

smartcath This story has made me feel more proactive in my thinking and getting on with my home and clearing up. Thank you.

nomadkath Good article!

andrew26 Last year we rented a condo in Nassau for two months and furnishings were beautiful but minimal, Did not miss all my posessions back home. While I long for the ocean (daily almost) it has inspired me to declutter. We are well on our way - and it takes a very long time. And yes I do experience the guilt feeling for money spent on "stuff" but this article enables me to "forgive myself". Thanks, Allison.

andrew26 Our kids informed us that if they have to take a month off work to go thru our house (upon our demise), they will NOT have fond memories of us if there is junk everywhere. That has inspired us to declutter NOW. Yes, they will find lots of memories - carefully organized and beautifully packaged.

Gin Ferrara Thank you for such a powerful and inspiring story! A few years ago we had a flood in our basement, and realized the only thing we'd salvage was a box of important papers that was right by the stairs. That event sparked a major purge, and when we moved across the country a couple of years later, we had 2/3 less possessions. Now with a 1 year-old and all the stuff that accumulates, we need to remember everything we learned back then. This article really helped.

Alison Hodgson This is a picture of my living room, a work in progress. I like that--even unfinished--it's a cozy place for our family to gather with room for guests. I want to get a rug and an assortment of pillows for both sofas. Some of the chairs are temporary while I save and decide on replacements. With the exception of books and magazines we're in the middle of reading, I like to keep horizontal surfaces bare.

Studio NOO Design Love, absolutely love the pillows mix and match !

Reclaimed Lumber Products Awesome article. Decluttering is so freeing. If you are not familiar with ww.Flylady.net . She has great tips for decluttering 15 minutes at a time--it's the theme for the month of February http://www.flylady.net/d/habits-of-the-month/february/. It has really helped me clean out.

hatwife This is so inspiring! And I like that you gave yourself the grace of a long period of time to sort and decide what stays and goes. That feels so realistic and freeing. Thanks for sharing this story and pieces of advice.

jahilton Don't believe anyone has yet mentioned another boon to decluttering: less objects to dust. Hooray! I'm with Alison on the "bare horizontal surfaces," not just for the aesthetic, but because I am a lazy housekeeper. What I really crave is a totally traditional Japanese house, kept clean and spare, with just enough objects of beauty to please the soul, including beautiful plantings in the garden and bare windows through which to regard them. And I noticed that some have mentioned "semi-hoarder" husbands. I have one of these, too, so you know I will not have the aesthetic I crave. The irony is that in the first of our 44 years of marriage, he refused to own anything we couldn't fit in our Corvair!

marsia Wow, so many gems of advice that were hard won, so all the more poignant. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and wisdom!!! I bookmarked your article and will refer back to it for motivation.

We have been remodeling for 2 years now (keep running out of money) so a lot of our stuff is in boxes, and I don't miss it. Can't wait to unpack it and give most of it away. It will be easier with your inspiring words.

pjtime Thanks hatwife! Within months of my husband moving in with me in this little cottage style home I had before we married, I was feeling cramped and desperate for a bigger home, and so we bought a larger home nearby. I love the home, but it was well on it's way to being a storage facility 4 years later. Retirement plans were coming up and my husband took off cross country and purchased another small home, leaving me to dispose of our homes and belongings locally. The one time I went to visit he was well on his way to using our new supposed retirement home as a storage facility, and our furniture wouldn't fit. Retirement plans fell through and we sold the across the country home. In the meantime, I felt such relief at his being gone (how sad is that) I decided we needed to stop and focus on what's really important. He wants this too (he's dreaming of buying a van and taking to the road), but is finding it more difficult than I to actually implement it. I'm taking my time because I know I'm still going to be here 5 years from now, and in fact, may keep one of the homes and stay here for retirement after all. We're not rich BTW--we bought fixer uppers and are in the process of fixing.

Packing our stuff was the first step in learning what we could do without and made it easier for the renovations to progress. I visit the other house and pick a box or two for disposal as time permits. We have a long way to go, but since renovations are in progress, I don't feel any particular urgency to get it all done. I dream of having a home that is soothing and easy to clean, and I have five or six years to realize that dream. In the meantime I use his dream of living in a van as a tool to prevent new acquisitions and the migration of belongings from the other house to this one. The only good thing to come of our exhibition of excess the past 7 years is that my teenage son, though not a neat kid, is not an acquisitive kid. He'll probably be a natural minimalist...and then move in with a collector. Smile.

pjtime Alison--LUV the living room. It looks peaceful and welcoming--a great place to read a book. I always feel at home in a room with books. Our homes are always a work in progress--it's not as if we stop living and freeze our home in time. My older sisters were exact opposites; one with lots of items on every surface, horizontal and vertical, and the other was minimalist with bare horizontals. Both had decorating talent and tasteful homes though their styles were disparate. We were all quite close and would joke about these qualities in each others' homes.

Everyone has a personality that comes through in their decor and you can tell when they are comfy in their own skin. You look like you are finally getting comfy in your own skin again after a hiatus. I can relate.

I fell somewhere in between my two sisters' styles, but as time goes on I get increasingly spare, looking at each object as having to be special and useful. Special is having the power to provide comfort and/or possessing beauty you want the world to see and appreciate. I have better things to do than clean every weekend--you know--like living life. I wouldn't call my style minimalist (I'm more the cottage type), but a clean and well organized home is important to my well-being, so my goal is to find a balance I'm comfortable with. Your story was so well written and so like my own, I enjoyed it immensely and thank you for sharing.

As an aside, the older sister that collected a lot and had her home filled horizontally and vertically; her house also burned to the ground while she was at work. Her kids were playing with matches and caught the kitchen curtains on fire. They lost everything but their lives. We were blessed. They had no insurance so it truly was starting over for them, and they had three young boys, so life was hard, but she continued collecting and decorating to the hilt. She found comfort in her nest.

pjtime catclawrose! Wow! I always wondered how people who go through the fires, hurricanes and floods manage to keep on going, not having been through that horrific experience personally. I figured it's because you have no choice. Obviously. When my sister's house burned down there was no insurance, but we were all so thankful she and her husband and three kids were fine. You are right, it is all just stuff. However, being a family genealogist, I'd like to remind everyone to get a safety deposit box or a fire box to save important personal papers and irreplaceable family photos. Scanning the older items and saving them to appropriate websites may be important to your great grandchildren. What hurt my sister the most was the loss of those items. It took ages to replace the marriage, birth certificates to get her kids enrolled in a new school, and the titles of the vehicles. My great grandparents went through a flood and were only able to save the sewing machine and cook stove because they were so heavy they didn't get swept away, but those were important items for survival and they were grateful. Due to that flood and my great grandfather later drowning in a river crossing, they later settled far from a river and a fear of water carried on down through generations to the point of my mother never learning to swim! These events certainly are life changing.

writerly Alison,
Thanks for the meaningful and practical essay - well worth multiple rereads as I create a new home nearly from scratch (post-divorce). I am attempting to examine every item that comes in or stays in my environment - and it is honestly work.

BTW - I love your living room. It feels so calm and comfortable.

writerly PJTime,

Thanks for your wise words!

I have realized lately that i only want what is "special" but I couldn't define what that meant. I will add your definition to my inspiration folder.

"Special is having the power to provide comfort and/or possessing beauty you want the world to see and appreciate."

wantsideas I think I'm pretty good with keeping out the clutter but find it difficult to get rid of items given to me as gifts. It's not even that people will see I'm not using it, as most live far away, but I feel so guilty if I don't find a place for a gift.

estherruth Did you still have young children at home when you went down to food, clothes and books?

pjtime Writerly--Thanks! That definition of "special" developed over years of grappling with the "needs and wants" issue. I realize I personally cannot forgo beautiful things. Viewing beauty in whatever form makes me really happy. Beauty is a must in my life. Beauty is art. The key is finding balance. The "Food, clothing and books" criteria Alison speaks of really does speak to me, but I have beautiful objects because they enrich my inner landscape and speak to my soul. When art becomes clutter it's time to pare back and/or rotate. When I clean, I often move furniture. Realtors call it "staging", but I've done it all my life and used to call it a "showcase a week" because I'd do it when I cleaned house once a week. My hubby used to get irritated because the furniture was moved so often. Then he'd ask me where something came from, and point to an item that had been placed somewhere else. When he did that I knew my "showcase" was successful, and I pointed that out to him the first time he complained to explain why I did what I did. The object he pointed to had been in the room for over a year, but obviously not in the right place. Sooner or later my rooms would come together and be just perfect and the moving would stop, much to his relief and mine. I used to love cleaning and rearranging, but no longer. Now I want to spend minutes and not hours doing that. I just moved back into this old house in November, so I haven't pulled it together. I have other things I'd rather do than renovating. It's a balancing act throughout life because the living is constantly changing. I live in a harsh environment, so beautiful things inside my home sustain and nurture me. I can't give them up, but I can free myself from what I now perceive as drudgery. Ergo, two years of packing things away, giving things away and throwing things away. The contents of the packed boxes in my basement at the other house will be carefully screened when the renovations are done, but it is obvious to me that we've accumulated too much. I'm just trying to keep my husband from buying more stuff or bringing over anything that is not necessary because it will just get in the way. It's so hard to see the forest for the trees.

Alison's comment, "minimalism is having what you love, but not a bit more than you can maintain", exactly defines my goal. Living with renovating the past 5 years has taken the stuffing out of me. It's time to move on.

Alison Hodgson My minimalism includes jadeite and McCoy pottery (which can be lumped under kitchen "needs") art is also a part of my basics, but I lean toward paintings or prints which can be hung. So my "food, clothes, books" was really a construct to help me focus and get through all the lovely things I had but didn't need.

Thanks for all the stories, suggestions and the hands raised to simply say, "Me too!"

Alison Hodgson estherruth, my youngest was seven. We kept a dollhouse (because we had more than one!) a big basket of our Thomas trains and another one full of Barbies, a ton of dress up clothes, art supplies and thousands of books. Those are what come to mind although I know we had more. Short story: we still had a lot of toys but it wasn't like when my older kids were younger when we had so many small wooden toys. It was manageable.

Coming up I'm going to post about my sister who is Type A in a nice way and has a messy little artist who is constantly creating amazing installations and drives my sister crazy with pride and horror. : )

Again, "food, clothes, books" is an idea, an anthem or battle cry and mainly it was for me, not my kids. But helping our kids figure out how much they can handle is important, but—alas!—it starts with us.

pjtime Alison: I think most of us understood your construct of books, food, clothing, but you really stated a solution to the dilemma so many of us face with your definition of minimalism, "minimalism is having what you love, but not a bit more than you can maintain". That's one I would like to paint on the steps to the basement. Thanks for putting it so succinctly!

I really admire how you managed to get things turned around, before and after the fire. It can't have been easy at all. My collecting interests are antique enameled glass and cut crystal and, believe it or not, coats. I have a thing for coats and even I think that is weird. Those decanters, pitchers and bowls can and are used though! I honestly have to reduce my coats every couple years. Ah well, we all have foibles.

Alison Hodgson Mirrors! Chairs! Clothes are my one area of natural minimalism.

It really is subjective. I keep it simpler because that's what I can handle. Paper is still my downfall. My study is always on the edge of disaster. Time to pull it back.

pjtime, thanks for the encouragement and comments.

Again, I couldn't have done any of it without my friend, Jane, and my wonderful husband Paul.

Christopher Callen I am a minimalist ---living in Japan as a young person --helped cultivate that sensibility. I loved your article ---but in the future ---"Be careful what you wish for" ---thoughts do create our futures ---as you seem to have experienced. Take care.

Apartment 46 for the Home When I'm hired to help my clients create spaces they can love, it always starts out with the somewhat painful process of decluttering, cleaning and decision-making. I have found that the majority of my clients want "new" rooms because they are trying to escape the old ones. Working to address habits that are inevitably going to ruin the new rooms as well, has been an awesome experience for everyone - although at times full of tears, spousal disagreements and more than one bottle of wine!

jillybeansisme It's a lovely piece and has some good ideas in it. The one that got me though, was what would you grab in a fire? Well, I had all the important stuff in a safe within a safe so I could grab it in an emergency. This past weekend I was the victim of an intrusion. They ransacked my home, found my heatsheet with the combination to the safe, and took everything in it. Everything. And the only thing that matters is I got out unhurt and alive . . . but I sure feel bad about the items in the "safe".

crickhollowmd Having never lived thru a fire, I think I understand tip #7, but I wonder if there is more to what you mean. Can u expand?

herbladyb This is a great article! I have been trying to scale down for a long time & now I seem more motivated to get going again.

noahmd What a great story! Thanks for sharing.

noahmd For me, when I go on an overseas trip and just live out of one small suitcase for a week or two, I realize how little I really need. My house is overrun with kids' papers, toys, and clothes just as you said. I know decluttering would make our lives easier.

Alison Hodgson jillybeansisme, I'm so sorry. Being stolen from is so terrible, in a variety of ways. When you attach crime to the loss of property it's another thing all together. Everyone thought I had a great attitude about losing everything, and I did, perhaps still do, but rebuilding and dealing with insurance was so incredibly hard. And then, once we moved back to the new house, we got to face the fact that a crime had been committed. It's been 18 months here and every single time I wake in the night I look out a front window--not afraid mind you, just checking--to see if there is anyone skulking in the trees or creeping up the drive.

I'm so sorry and wish you the very best going through a cruddy experience.

Alison Hodgson crickhollowmd, thanks for asking. Pick a room, look around slowly at all the stuff. Shut your eyes and tell yourself "In 30 seconds, it's all going to disappear. What do I absolutely want to hold onto?" When I was de-cluttering the only thing I really pushed back with my friend who was helping me was pictures and handmade cards my children had written or drawn for me over the years. The joke became, "Just write 'I love you' on anything you want your mom to keep track of and hold onto FOREVER." I was adamant and it all fit into a medium Rubbermaid tote. I had the room to store it and those MATTERED to me. And I was onto the truth, it was this pile of cards and pictures which I sobbed over a couple months after the fire. But the thing is I went through the art and threw away anything that had merely been glued or cut. It had to have their drawing or writing.

My youngest had begun writing "books" which she stapled together and gave as gifts. One sentence filled a small page and was a chapter. They were awesome and I never use that word, but they were. I was dragging my heels writing a book and she was full of helpful advice. They were stacked neatly on a bookshelf right outside my bedroom. I walked right past them as the alarms sounded and I didn't yet know my house was on fire. When I remembered those books I wished I could go back in time and grab them as I breezed past. But I was focused, I was going to gather the author, her siblings, the dog, a family friend on what was becoming The World's Worse Sleep-over! and a fledgeling sparrow, the author rescued the day before. We all made it out without even an ash touching us.

In an actual fire the focus is people and animals. Trust me: you can live without the rest.

kafehausdiva I live in NYC and noticed this the last time I moved; when you purchase something, you pay for it three times, the actual purchase price, the additional rent because you need a larger apartment to accommodate all that STUFF, and then the moving costs. The more you haul, the more you pay the moving company. How wasteful!

ragross We recently redid a room and it required us to go through drawers and closets. We didn't get rid of that much but I loved getting rid of what we did and reorganizing the rest.

sdaniele2 AMAZING and beautifully written. Thank you for sharing your wild story! I can't imagine spending all that time to declutter only to have it burned down anyway. I AM overwhelmed...just trying to be responsible with my belongings and all the things I've wasted money and time acquiring. Reading your post helped me see how I'm only throwing good energy after bad.

Living Space Landscapes I used your concept to clean out my truck.

I harvested about 20 pens and probably enough loose change to by lunch after being inspired by your article. I had fun "gutting" all contents from the glove box, cup holders and under the seats.

tburnet Besides losing my home to a fire, (I commented earlier),I have also recently lost an elderly aunt from a stroke. She owned beautiful artwork, furniture, needlepoint pieces and closets full of expensive, stylish clothes. I only wanted the few items that reminded me of her. I had a household of my own stuff. But now had the responsibility to catalog,sell and give away her household. While sorting through her things, I decided, in my 60's or 70's, to do as one of my uncles had done. Before he moved into his last, little cottage, he asked his children to choose a couple of items they cherished and either gave them the items or wrote in his will that they were designated the items. Then he had a living estate sale and sold practically everything in his house. He kept the few things that pleased him or made him comfortable. When he passed, his children were given what remained. They easily sorted through his possessions.They had no guilt about whether mom or dad would like them to save something for future generations. They knew. My uncle had traveled and helped his grandkids with the cash from that estate sale. What remained after his death, his children split. He lived to his 90's.
So as I gather items for my new home, I think: Do I need it? If I don't I ask: Do I want to clean it? Store it? Will it enhance my life? Does it match my current decorating scheme? Will buying it take away funds from something I'd really, really enjoy--like a trip? Usually that stops me from most of the "I just like it" purchases. Most purchases. Not all! I am a sucker for colored glass.

Julie Webster When my friends and I discuss all the "stuff" we keep, so many of them feel badly... but there is no shame in having dragged one's feet in dealing with stuff. We still see value in these items, but the task is now to see the value of letting go... I hate to be gruesome but it kinda reminds me of scabs from childhood scrapes and tumbles... We sillies would tear them off, some so easily (cause we were quite healed and ready to let go!) and some were "OUCH!" but we perservered in our brave task, in front of our tomboy friends... and always pleased with the results! It is a snowy day for so many of us today... I think I will take an interesting beverage into the basement and see what I can rid myself of, regardless of the ouch!!!

jokercat FABULOUS POST! While never cluttered, my little house is being readied for sale, and 'editing' is taking place, as the new house will be smaller still. My basement, however, has collected family heirlooms and other sundry stuff that has gathered, seeming to multiply when I'm not looking. With a bit of guilt (not too much) I am purging. What doesn't sell will be given away or trashed. Craigslist is not proving very lucrative... too much on there. But, already there is that sense of cleansing, of having a weight lifted. I just think we need to give ourselves permission to 'let go' ...and understand that while it may have been another's treasure, it might truly be our trash!

lauralollylamb thanksand funny articlethis was a very informative

missjudy1 In the midst of a severe downsizing, I've discovered that "incremental" makes me less "mental." Books, of which we had hundreds, are a good example. The first pass was the obvious junk -- old college textbooks, outdated atlas and references we now use the Internet for, books we'd either never read and never would or wouldn't want to read again. The second was for valuable books with a market, they are being sold. Now we're working on what we just can't part with, and the remainder will go to the local library.

jahilton Alison, your response to crickhollowmd brought so many thoughts to my mind. I used to say that I did not need photographs. If the experience was important enough, I would retain the image in my mind's eye. So I did not take a camera to Europe with me on my first trip nor on my last for that matter, and yet my mind is filled to this day with those sights and those people and experiences whose impact on me could never have been captured on film, and really would not matter to those who were not there or did not meet them. But I do keep in a box by my bed the outpourings of love expressed in greeting cards from my children, plus a few other people who touch my heart. Yes, they could be lost in a catastrophe, and I do use them to bolster me when feeling a bit lonely or lost, but I know they are there for now, and I am deeply aware of the love they have expressed. I can imagine being without them, because the memory of them will always sustain me.
But today I gave up the doll my mother held, loved and played with when she was 7 years old. I held it like she might have, then handed it over, knowing that I possessed a photo of her playing with that doll in 1920. Guess where I keep that photo now--in my wallet, behind the credit cards and checkbook. And my granddaughters' beautiful, smiling faces beam at me whenever I open my laptop. How many physical things do we need, indeed?

5katya5 I really appreciated this post. Thank you!

julesthert This puts it all in perspective! Thank you for sharing your story and suggestions.

dharamgeet Thank you so much Alison! I am a newlywed and your 7 Tips are great advice as my husband and I combine two households into one home. We are in our mid-fifties and this is the first marriage for both of us! I feel better about the time I consume planning on what stays, what goes and what to add. It is a spiritual re-birth in the making. Bless you!

cynpadco Alison- Wow. Really intense article. Truely inspiring. Thank you! I've been putting off 'cleaning' my office- the catch all room for the entire house-- for years, and you've motivated me to tackle it. The walls and any horizontal surface are plastered with family photos, cards, kids' artwork... all totally disorganized. Yet it's the only room that contains 'stuff' I would want to save in a fire. Your article has inspired me to focus on what really matters, to purge the rest, and to backup what is really important: perhaps taking photos (copy shots) of all the artwork or writings from my children I so treasure. Perhaps there are two categories: what would you grab in 30 seconds, and what would you grab in 30 minutes (say if a natural disaster was approaching)-- and work from their. Beautiful perspective- so glad your family and dog are safe. So sorry you had to endure that trauma-- I can only imagine. May you continue to heal. Your journey and wisdom has already helped others! Thank you again for sharing.

Norma Sassone Excellent piece. Great anecdotal comments, too. We downsized 3 years ago from a big house to a 1000 sq ft duplex. Hundred of pounds of stuff to Craigslist, Goodwill, the landfill - always accompanied by the question:"Why did I keep this stuff?" The big house actually had way too much storage space - better to have a few small closets, and to do as was mentioned above - for every new item in an old item goes out. It is s cathartic to get rid of things except those that I really love and use.
The hardest part is that we have several pieces of furniture from my very elderly mother that are really not any longer my taste (1960's early american), but she would be so hurt to know I have given them away or sold them! I am in the process of repainting them to update them. When she has to move out of her little apartment or passes away, I'll have the second huge downsizing job of my life, as well. I am still downsizing my own little place on a monthly basis - both for my own sanity and for my kids - so they don't have to go through all my "stuff" when I am gone. I have even been known to take "still lifes" of several items, post them free on Craiglist, and place them out in front of my garage for the day - and"poof" by 4 PM it is all gone!

audreydassa Wonderful article. I really admire your courage. I am overwhelmed with the clutter in our house.

Rebecca@MidCenturyModernRemodel This is a great post. I just wrote a post about cleaning my office (picture below). It took a whole Saturday. It is a lot of work but you do feel so much better and inspired to keep going. And I do wonder why I am holding on to stuff while pitching pitching pitching. I have written another post about de-cluttering some shelves that I had filled with books that I had read long ago. Just stuffed in. But I decided they weren't trophies and our house is musty/damp and my beloved books were getting ruined. So I gave them to the library for the most part and display mid-century glass on the shelves. I posted this on reddit and people went nuts talking about how crazy I am to get rid of books. SERIOUSLY. Book hoarding is a problem with me and creates some of my big messes. Good food for thought and I really appreciate this point of view.

Norma Sassone Books, clothing, knick knacks to the max - play them forward - someone else will get pleasure out of them and you should feel good about that instead of hoarding them. How many books do we honestly re-read? how many items of clothing hang in the closet which we have not worn for more than a year? How much do you really want to dust all those knick knacks? or worse - leave them all dusty?

pjtime I love books too, but having moved many times, have learned to keep only what I currently need for research and the few I consider special and worth reading again. I read 10-20 books a month. I can't possibly keep them all.

cherylrodd My sister shared this article with me. I have gone through the "purging" and hope she will, too!

Lara Jones That was exactly what was my husbands and my inspiration just two years ago! After vacationing in a log home for a week...we realized how little we needed and how free we felt. I spent a mere 30 minutes tidying up each morning and lived it up the remainder...we all felt so content and at peace within our surroundings. We came back home with a plan...we are going to declutter in a big way...we had originally been home shopping for huge homes at huge prices. We felt confident that not only would a huge home not make us happy but it would have a huge list of life robbing tasks attached to it. We slashed the size of the home we had been previously looking for by more than half. We went from looking for ready made to in need of work, we wanted a clean slate to customize our home to our new found understanding of a home. We were able to find a small home that needed a lot of work done...we took what would have been a down payment on the big big house finished to someone else's liking...to paid in full cash sale for the clean slate! No mortgage!!! In the last two years, I was able to quit my job and devote my time to my children and our dream home, we just recently paid off all of our debt...we have become debt free in this process...our home is nearing the half way mark. I laugh looking back now because I remember it was with great debate to take that family vacation two years ago...the money was pulled from the big big house fund. I remember clear as day how I justified our trip, "Vacations are an opportunity to step out of the routine and discover the things that get lost in the everyday"! I had no idea how profound those words would become. It changed our lives!

Dana Veach This article is sooooo true! My sister and I moved together to the Texas Gulf Coast from Kansas City, MO. in 2010 in what we describe as the "move from Hell". After surviving the actual 4 day transit (broken down moving truck where everything had to be transferred to another truck, leaving us stranded in an industrial freight complex in the middle of the night in the middle of "nowhere"...that's the "short version" of the story...) we unloaded our truck, cramming all our boxes and crates into the garage because it was already 1:00 a.m. of arrival day, and we were too exhausted to get more than the largest pieces of furniture into the actual town home we had rented. We stumbled to bed only to be wakened thirty minutes later by a "boom" and the sound of running water. The main water supply line in the upstairs bath had exploded, dumping a considerable portion of the nearby Gulf of Mexico into guess where...yup...the garage below. Insurance only covered a portion of our loss. The bulk of the "uncovered" loss consisted of books, art work and art supplies...including yarns and unique textiles, financial records, photos, and similar irreplaceable items. The following 6 months of dealing with the insurance company was a bludgeoning nightmare. We had already "downsized and decluttered" with 2 huge garage sales and give-aways before ever putting anything on the truck in Kansas City. We're still doing it as we look to find a small piece of rural property in Texas. It's actually a life-long process. And as an artist and writer, it's sometimes excruciating to part with something that has "creative potential." That, I find, is my most difficult place of coming to terms with reality...to say, "you know, I'm probably not going to actually make something out of that in this lifetime. It should go to a new home!" Aargh!!!

By the way...thanks for becoming a follower here on Houzz. I just read your blog post about teaching children to grieve...very insightful...wish I'd read it when I was a young mother! Isn't our God gracious to actually enable us to learn and grow and change before we have to exit this life into His eternal presence?

virtuesevents this whole idea is so beautiful and rich i just believe its more useful to me than anyone thanks

jeneeng Really, very well written and so very true! Thank you for sharing!

fromthestudioofrlm Outstanding article! I had my epiphany when I visited a friend in Japan, who lived in harmony with the earth as a minimalist. When I returned home, My attitude toward consumerism changed.

pdillahunty Thank you for the pointers. I need them. And thank goodness you and your family escaped the fire. I hope the arsonist was caught and is serving time.

Angela Pascoe I am in the process of doing this myself. I had been in the military for 21 years and have accumulated so much. I also realized that I not only bought but over bought. Well I started with my living room last night. I moved the book case to the garage and flip the sofa to the wall,

stevie49 My husband said that he would burn up trying to save all his "necessities". LOL

tkap5 Another great article! When I think of what I would want to take in a fire, I wouldn't have to take anything if I took advantage of online storage. I have five children and only the youngest has his baby photos on the computer. It would give great piece of mind if I quit procrastinating and got all the negatives transferred to the computer. The artwork and mementos can be scanned or photographed too.

Yvonne S This is the only article I have ever reposted to Facebook

rebecca07102005 Touching, enlightening and oh so helpful! Thank you.

virginiacottage Lovely writing, Alison. Your strength and courage are inspiring and you are wiser than those of us who have not lost as much. For me, the loss of the material contents of my small home might be less painful than the loss of the proof of my hard work. All the hours spent carefully finishing trimwork myself (because the budget demanded a DIY spirit in that regard.) All the sweat equity grown during long, late nights with a paintbrush or a miter box. And no one would remember my sacrifice. But then, as another astute commenter said, it was "tuition" spent on teaching me something -- self-reliance, patience and appreciation for small things. I know what I accomplished, who else needs to know? And it's all just ... stuff, after all. I never missed a ballet recital or soccer game over it, and for that, I am truly thankful.

julietviney Great article - thanks!

Phillip Reid I always wanted my house to have the same amount of stuff as a "one week beach rental house". Thoses places always seem to have just the right amount of items - utencils, dishes, etc, - to make the week great! My mantra, Get rid of 50% of everything ...and I believe after 27 years of marriage and three kids,we'll still have to much.

thepurplegirl Your post is very moving, this is exactly where I am at... It's like shovelling snow while it's snowing at our house. I clean and then look around and there's more mess in the spots I just cleaned (we have 3 kids under 7).

Our joke at the moment is that if we were burgled there's no way that we would notice.

In fact, a friend of mine posted a pic on FB of her house that she came back to after her holiday with a caption saying "this is what we came back to, how dreadful". I honestly thought she meant that she should have cleaned up before she left because the pic showed a house that had one tenth of the amount of mess that ours has on a regular basis. I then realised she meant 'how dreadful, she had been burgled'.

We also just went on a mini-break and tried to keep the house as clean as possible. We were very dedicated and it worked!! I was shocked. I also realised that all we had to do there was eat, sleep, go for walks, read and relax. There was no running to and from school, working full time (we have our own business so we work more than full time, the to-do-list is never ending), no washing, no other responsibilities.

Thank you for your post, it's very inspiring.

mmm... First room - The Kids Room!!

daylilydiva Good article but I am so overwhelmed - just got out of the hospital - am in my 70s with an 80 year old husband (and stuff from three households which are just burying us). I feel like crying when I think of weeding anything out. If I could weed it out, there's no one to haul it away. We're not hoarders but have so much stuff it controls us, not the other way around.

Angela Pascoe Oh, I am so sorry dayliva wish I was close as I would love to come by and help. See if there is Salvation Army or Veterans Pick Up. They will come to your house to pick it up. Also see if your trash pick up has a bulk pick up day.

gypsyrose17 Dear daylilydiva, do what I do, just start a box or bag and when it is full call one of the organizations that will come to pick up, you don't have to let them in your home, you can leave it at the curb on the day they pickup.

daylilydiva Dear Angela and gypsy rose - Thank you so much for your kind comments; it feel better just to know someone understands. I thank you for your comments and suggestions - I'll call our local charitable organizations and see if they'll pick up small loads. I can do my things even if my husband won't participate and I'll feel better about that. You ladies are wonderful!

lindahonegger What great advice......I am in the midst of downsizing from a 2500 square foot home to a 900 SF cabin....and in the process of sorting out the must have's from the "clutter" I have discovered how much I let clutter take over. I am feeling lighter and lighter as I go along!

Norma Sassone Hey daylilydiva: The ARC, Salvation Army and other organizations will definitely pick stuff up from your front porch or driveway. Once you have donated to them once, they call about every 4 - 6 months to see if you have anything else to donate. It is a great incentive to keep donating.

Also, many high school students need to do community service as a graduation requirement now. Call your local senior services department and they might be able to connect you with local teenagers willing to help you out as volunteers. Someone might even have a truck to haul some of it to the landfill for you, if it is beyond donating. Don't worry, there are lots of folks out there willing to lend a helping hand.

If you can afford it, there are many paid services that will come in and help you downsize, as well. When my 88 year old mom moved to a one story apartment last year, this wonderful moving company run by two local middle aged ladies packed her up, helped her decide what she really did not need, and found a moving service for her. She loved it.
Good luck and don't worry if you only do one bag of stuff a week ( or a month!) - it's something!

lemi Lovely article, thanks for sharing it here. The timing couldn't be any more perfect for me.

When I moved into a home that was nearly twice the size of my old place 5 years ago, I decided I wanted to take a more minimalist approach. The problem is that I have always been a pack rat. People come into my home now & always comment on the cleanliness & lack of "stuff" which makes me feel so good because it's the way I enjoy living. They don't know I am secretly hoarding tons of things in my basement & garage. My husband hates it that we can't park in the garage & my basement storage is now infringing on his man cave. I have so much stuff that it makes me very anxious. It almost makes me feel as though I am suffocating at times. Recently all I have been able to think about is downsizing to a smaller place. I AM GOING TO MAKE A SERIOUS EFFORT TO GO THROUGH EVERYTHING IN MY HIDING PLACES. There - I said it so I must do it. Whether it takes weeks or a year, I will be ready to move to smaller place eventually!

Thanks to everyone who contributed in the comments, you have also inspired me to make a change!

calkelley It's 3 am and I can't sleep. So I'm getting up and going to do a small declutter! You've inspired me!
After cleaning out my childhood home (which contained at some point 9 children and 2 parents) we needed to put on the market after my mom died, I remember the 2 or 3 large dumpsters we threw everything in. True, some was falling apart built-in cupboards and other things. True, as my mom had died somewhat recently, we weren't ready to let all of our childhood go with her and kept more things than we really wanted.
Still, I think about that almost every time I shop. That's where decluttering starts!
15 years ago I lived in France and learned that the women around spent a lot of money on a few very good clothers and just wore them in rotation. I do that more now as well.
Unlike a good friend who I helped pack for a vacation (of 3 days!) and in her stuffed suitcase, she found a shirt exactly like the one she had just bought (and not a cheap one)! Everyone has their own journey but I personally found that very silly.
No stalling - bye stuff!

Kelly You've peg me...I answered yes to two of those questions...plus I use all the same reasoning you mentioned!

calkelley several boxes for gathering stuff in the living room and library have now been cleared out and things went into place, the garbage or for donations!
I think I will do the boys' rooms next so they will feel comfortable.

On the other hand, I hate throwing things away; not because of doing it, but because of what we are throwing into our land, what we are spending our hard earned money on, and thinking of how many resources we use to make 'crap!' Consumerism at its finest.
Buy less and less - that's my new mantra.

We sometimes buy things for the people we would like to be - whether it's clothes slightly too small, games we should play, fancy displays, etc. Food for thought...

Aduke Edwards Thank you, I am inspired and can now let go.

Karrel Buck During several moves I realized I had left stuff in attics, or couldn't bring with me. I have for years told myself to treat it as if it were all lost in a fire. Because, as you sadly found out, that stuff can never be brought back. It is still sad to know I left stuff, but in the end, it is as you say - only your family & your animals - life...that is truly important.
I have all my pix in one place so if a hurricane is coming I can gather them up & computer, and hit the road. I also have back up to a cloud for all my digital stuff. If a fire were to come I wouldn't have time to get those things, so I have been working on scanning in all the old pictures so they will be in the cloud. It is a job, but fire and flood can take away your past in a heartbeat.
(FYI - for those of you who are in flood prone areas, keep your photos in vacuum sealed bags, with your contact information written on the inside of the bag with Sharpie. Check before season for air leaks.)

ebova Having a parents who lost everything, including the house, in Ivan on the Gulf Coast, I know things can carry great meaning and were mourned when gone. Obviously, people and pets are more important, but items can hold memories and beauty for us.

Karrel Buck I still think of my lost "stuff" but my life is no worse without it. My husband died 2 years ago & I was telling our 8 year old granddaughter that I had some stuff of his that I needed to take to the consignment shop. She said "NO! You have to keep it for the memories." I reminded her that our memories are in our heart, and can never be taken from us. Of course I have kept some stuff of his and photos. But letting go of our attachment to "things" is healing on its own.

Katie Peters Love this article! Thank you!

stevie49 My husband said that he would burn up trying to save all his "necessities". LOL

psp2pdx Amen! This is a great piece of writing. I have been through this process and am always editing....magazines, books I've read or a plant that has had its day. Same with clothes in the closet, shoes etc. In the end someone will be pawing through your 'stuff; when you're gone. Why not make it what you have is what had meaning. How many cakes pans do we need as our children fly the nest?

Jean Corey Calkelley - when clothes get too small or I don't need something they go to the thrift shop. I recycle as much of my plastics, paper and metals as I can. Vegetable and fruit scraps are composted. Branches trimmed off my trees are often used in my landscaping. I put very little in my garbage can. I shop outlets, sales, thrift shops, and discount online sources. So the occasional wishful clothing purchase that doesn't work out or fun splurges don't bother me much. My excesses can usually be useful for someone or something else.

sharpmama What a wonderful piece of writing, Alison. It clearly touched all of us deeply, evidenced by the many thoughtful responses that follow! I started two comments of my own, but realized that this facet of life brought up so many personal situations and family triumphs and struggles, that I had difficulty describing just one!

My cull list includes shelves of books, old art projects, excess cookware, Mom's fine china and the leavings of half finished garden plans. My "de-cluttering" angst came after my younger son moved out for good a few months after he got out of the Navy. He left behind his uniforms, work clothes, medals and more. He had already gone through his stuff and taken what he needed or wanted. This was eight years ago, and I am only now taking all his name patches & insignia off with my seam ripper; this, only because I don't want to recycle anything that still has his name on it.

What made this simple task really hard for me was the memory of seeing my son off on deployment to the Persian gulf in late 2002, when talk of WMD's was on all the media and the march to war signals were becoming increasingly clear. His working time on the carrier was split between the flight deck and the hanger bay; all I could think of for a while was that he'd be in danger of exposure to a release of poisons, toxins or biological weapons by the enemy.

I had many sleepless nights and more than one scary dream; it was a stressful time for our family and I was especially emotional. Even after my son's squadron was back from deployment, and later, when his enlistment was up, it took time for me to adjust and get my bearings back. Fortunately, I'm finally getting rid of the stuff he left behind a long time ago. And that's a good thing.

pauli12 I also minimalized by force (hurricane Katrina) and now do it because I love to.
I love this article. Thank you for sharing your heart. I want to go farther and organize more and pare down more. It lightens and frees me.

calicojo I try to give usable things to the thrift store, salvation army or any charity that can resell the items for money. Even CD's, they sell them for a dollar. I always feel good when I do this, in my mind I am helping.

belizeguy calicojo...In a small town in Mexico, where I am now, those old CDs are used as night time reflectors on bicycles. I'm sure they have prevented many tragedies

Nest Feathers I have been on this slow journey for a couple of years now. Having not yet reached even half of my lifespan potential, I had filled my allotted space completely. And now I have a family and they have stuff... there was no room for new. No new creativities, no new ideas, no new nothing (just stuff). The rooms were full, the photoboxes full, cupboards full, pretty organizers full! I still have another 40-50 years of living I couldn't have lived it all already!

Yes most things were nice, useful, most carried noble intents and such. I had learned to live peacable with it all but I didn't realize I was actually stressed by the unfinished projects, the stockpile of what ifs, the desire for my kids to enjoy MY childhood - instead of their own and the short attention spans because of the overstimulation of stuff.

So slowly I began to let go -- sell, give and toss. Breathing space opened up in my home and in my mind and spirit. I felt a stronger hope for the new -- and the yet to be, in me, my spouse and my children. I didn't realize I had lost that and am excited to be finding it again. If I died tomorrow what did I want my family to keep? Really! Just my memories and a few photos but the rest was just MY past NOT their future.

Less truly is more :) I am not all the way there yet but I have reached the part where the pain can be viewed as the birthing pangs of new life, with less stuff!

kitter This is my 2nd comment (1st time ever). I still like this idea book, but the essentials are wrong. What should be saved are people, memories & documents.

Do take, keep and LABEL pictures/art projects of your loved ones. My mother always said she didn't need photos, she had her memories. Then she got Alzheimer's. She loved at the albums that I had made while the many shelves of books she'd been so proud of were forgotten.

Keep important, PEOPLE souvenirs. Each person in my house has a small plastic tub. It contains non-paper souvenirs that are important to him. The contents change over time, because everything has to fit in the tub. Each also has a paper file (school art, certificates, etc..) that is weeded regularly..

Save ORIGINALS of important legal documents even if they take up space. Scanned duplicates are not always sufficient e.g. death certificates, Getting new copies can be expensive, a hassle and a huge time waster, if they are available at all.

Keep the most important LEGAL papers in a safety deposit box or a "save first" file that is kept near the door.. Ideally have duplicates in both places. Don't forget things like house plans, or remodeling receipts which may be needed for taxes/insurance many years from now. .

Keep a "save first" list in the important documents file. It won't help in case of a sudden fire, but might be very useful when packing the car for evacuation.

pauli12 We have a 'to go' file with all our important papers in it.

hopesilver Your writing,your experiences, and your insights, have been shared with many people who not only relate to your words, but need them. I have never lost everything to a fire, but I know there are irreplaceable items , "Things" I would miss. All my 100 plus paintings I made over thirty years. My writing,my deceased mothers pottery, and the photos. Maybe items like this should be put outside the home? All else is replaceable and, as you say, often forgettable, no matter how much you thought you loved it. Perspective is illusive until an emergency
tells you otherwise. And it is true, if you have ever gone through your last parents home after their passing, well, it's a sobering experience that truly tells us all we need to know.

hopesilver yes, a "to go" file, or box is not a horrible idea, and yet when faced with a catastrophe
such as a fire, flood or earthquake, going to retrieve that little file is not so simple, or even possible. Sometimes I think of the car as a storage place for some of these items, or of course, a box at the bank, etc. However when electricity is down, banks can't open. And none of this can save artwork, since it is larger by far than a file. I'll have to invent something and get back to you!

Linda McMahon I thoroughly enjoyed your post but have a comment based on a personal experience I would not wish on anyone. My dear husband passed away instantly, unexpectedly at the young age of 52. Now so many things that I would have purged have become all I have left of him and form part of a great memory, and I cannot bare to part with them. Be careful when you purge, and above all else, I would definitely advise hanging on to letters! I did, he did, there are very few but they are priceless. I would also advise photos and family videos to be secured from fire, you don't want to lose those memories when new ones are no longer possible. Children will also want to know more about their loved one as they get older, and that needs to be considered in a postmortem purge as well. Thanks for some great advice!

baziz thanks for the advice. When we were between houses, we rented a small, furnished townhouse while our new place was being renovated. We brought one suitcase each, and our our laptops,and toiletries. That's it. For 6 months we lived light. While before I would have sprung for a plastic gizmo for a whiney kid while standing in a check out line, for 6 months I said no to every non essential purchase. It was a revelation to us how having so little of our own stuff at hand unburdened us mentally. We spent less of course; we consumed less, both worthy goals on their own, but the real plus was how free we felt. Owning stuff has a psychic weight even if we're not consciously aware of it. The other surprise was that we missed very little of the books, furnishings, clothing, dishes, books, knicknacks, heirlooms, and lovely mementos we'd acquired over 20 years. So now that we've been re-united with all this stuff, I've decided to part ways permanently with much of it. It it has no practical, identified, purpose, or huge value, it's going. I'm taking pictures of some of our old treasures for times when I feel like a trip down memory lane - as in "oh here's a photo of Great Aunt Betsy's rosewood tea trolly" but we will not miss having all this stuff clutter our shelves, our closets, or our minds.

Montserrat Fidler Thank you Alison for posting this. I wouldn't call myself a hoarder, but I definitely have that overwhelming fear of getting rid of things I feel ill one day need. I want to live simply, and your words have definitely sparked encouragement. Thank you :)

hopesilver Having read all comments, and this very important, moving story, does anyone have comments on what they believe are the best way to store cherished, personal items. How, and where?

hopesilver Alison. it seems like this article is one we can't let go of, unlike objects, concepts cling even more. In your pursuit of creating a clutter free home, keeping in mind that the objects, like photos, writing, personal items, how have you decided the best way to save, and protect them from a fire? I wold think this would be a spot outside the home? I like your new home, especially the painting of the two girls reading and talking on the phone.
But..not to delineate...do you have any thoughts about future safeguarding?

gypsyrose17 hopesilver...if an item is really cherished, why would you want it in storage? If you do't have anywhere for it to be displayed, etc., perhaps let a sibling or other relative have a turn at it.

pjtime I have many things that are special to my husband and I, but I have been slowly working on paring down our things and we've been taking a hard look at what is really important to us. We are both older and need to think about what we're going to be leaving behind when we pass away.

I have only one kid, almost 18 and getting ready to fly away on his own journey through life. He's not particularly interested in the old family photos and genealogy items. I've concluded that I need to sit down with him and go through the short list of items that are near and dear to decide if he would treasure them or if he would prefer I pass them along to my sisters' children or sell them.

I've already scanned most of the old ancestral photos and documents and posted them to various relevant websites. My photos went to a website called AncientFaces and also to an online genealogy tree (unfortunately subscription @ Ancestry.com, but I can still share photos with people that contact me by inviting them to see the tree as a guest). The family trees I have online are public trees, meaning that anyone with an Ancestry.com subscription can see the photographs of ancestors that are linked to their family pages, and they can save the photos, stories and scans to their own trees.

Some of the family bibles have been scanned, transcribed and placed on bible websites online. I still have some more work to do on those. The family bible of my parents will go to my son or my nephews. The others will be sold on Ebay because they are not direct line bibles.

Because we are in an age of websites changing hands or going totally off the internet, all important antique photographs and bible scans should be placed on more than one website. There are a lot of free websites online that welcome contributions. I've only used AncientFaces and Ancestry.com and a couple of the bible websites, but my goal is to place the scans on as many websites as I can find, including those of museums, historical societies, etc. The more the pictures are shared, the more likely they will remain accessible to be enjoyed by future generations. I'm still working and progress is slow on this project. I have CD's saved of my pictures, and occasionally I go to the trouble of plugging one into my computer and sharing a picture or two on a website I come across, but I haven't seriously tackled that project yet.

I have a huge wedding china set that I've told my husband we must reduce, so we've agreed on 12 place settings instead of our current 24 settings. Since I wash dishes by hand I think I will start using the 12 settings we keep for every day use. We have our wedding decanters and toasting glass that we love and must keep to the end. My wedding dress is appropriate for a night on the town, so I will keep that. I have 3 smaller furniture pieces that belonged to my mother or grandparents, so I will keep those unless my son or nephews take an interest.

Years ago my husband purchased a lockable fire box (a Christmas present to me...LOL) and we keep important receipts and documents in it. I haven't protected them in any waterproof packets because we don't have floods where we live, and the box is kept away from home water sources. If I lived in a flood or hurricane zone, I probably would opt to have certified copies at home and the originals in a bank safety deposit box. I wouldn't put waterproof packets on them because it would probably melt in a fire and ruin the documents. I try to keep at least two copies of birth certificates and social security on cards on hand all the time in case one gets lost in our travels.

So this is what I'm doing to pare down and protect my current treasures. If I'm forgetting something I can and should be doing, please let me know. I just would like what I have to be accessible for future generations. A lot of kids aren't interested in their family history now, but often get interested once they start having children o

jpynn867 Awesome Awesome.... Awesome! I'm excited to take my newly reframed perspective to my apartment! This may be the key!

Christopher Callen I just want to say ---thank you for this site of Minimalists ---it is inspiring to hear others challenges and triu,paper book -less in my library less and paper file-less one day. Even as a child I noticed the difference in living simply and organizedly . As the oldest of eight children --the constant clutter drove me mad. When my parents would go out --the first thing I would do as the "Babysitter" was say "OK --everybody clean up and put away your stuff " ---then later my family moved to Japan ---there I really got the wonderful experience of living simply --as my room was Tatami - a Japanese Futon and a lamp and a scroll - It was heaven . I did my homework at the kitchen table. As a young person ---I went on tour with a Broadway show - I had stored my valuables --photos from Japan - School souveniers etc in a trunk ---when I came back home the storage place told me it had been auctioned off. I was young and naive and hardly twenty ---I did not realize I had to pay them monthly to keep it. But I was sad for a moment and then it was over and even later when a mad /jealous boyfriend took all my clothes and books - and I came home to them in a pile ---torn and covered with paint ! Dramatic ---but I realized these "Things" really didn't matter. Just relationships do - just love ---that is the only thing that endures is love ---

So I had my living room painted this week ---a great, "gallery" bright white. I had to take everything out. And I am going to put only half of the the things back. It feels so wonderful ---there is space to create ---even though I am also a Painter. I have taken all the art off the wall --and maybe I will change out one piece on a monthly basis. I am a true minimalist at heart and all of you inspire me to get to that Nirvana of REAL simplicity . Thanks ---and thanks for letting me share my story with you ----

leas44 You're awesome. I've subscribed to FLY lady for years but even daily readings of decluttering inspiration didn't quite put it in a way that really spoke to me and made me consider parting with some of the things that bother me so much to keep. My husband is currently deployed and as usual, during his absences I make myself very busy doing projects around the house. This time, though, its going to be a subtraction instead of an addition. I want the clutter gone. I want my home to always be welcome to anyone who would like to visit. And I want it to be easy to maintain. I have also the experience of losing everything I owned, twice, both before I was an adult, so doing these things should be even more easily done than someone who has not had that experience. You both appreciate more and value things less. Thanks so much for putting your experiences and logic out there for the rest of us that sometimes just need things to be put in another way to really get it.

Melanie McNamara I moved from a 2 storey home that was full of 15 years of life...into a small apartment. I continue to purge and have yet to miss anything that I have given away. We hold onto things thinking that they make us happy...it is a lie created by society. Reading this has helped me again to declutter our "home" ...thanks so much.

calkelley pjtime: a lot of fire damage is caused by smoke and then water. If your lock box isn't waterproof, I'd put the documents in special packages.

I'm getting better at purging the box of wires and cords, broken toys that still are not fixed, things like this. But I still have my 2 stuffed leopards I can remember playing with as a 5 yrs old, a pasta maker from my husband's grandmother, books from when the kids were little. I don't care if that clutters my space or my storage - I have enough room to need them.

But when you throw things away, or give whole boxes away, or pack up so many clothes to Salvation Army - doesn't it bring the realization of how much our society has changed since our grandparents' time of getting 1 or 2 presents for Christmas, clothes were made occasionally, and bought things were not 5 yr throwaways? Even our phones or computers these days don't last that long, despite the huge price we pay for these things.

no wonder people scoff at such consumerism...

pjtime calkelley--Oh I didn't think of the water the fire department would be laying on the fireproof box. I think perhaps a safety deposit box at the bank might be the best option for the original documents and I'll just keep the certified copies on hand. Thanks so much for pointing this out to me.

I loved that you are keeping things that mean a lot to you from growing up. I was planning to make a couple of shadow boxes to hang on the wall of some of the family memorabilia, and I have a shadow box coffee table to put that kind of fun stuff in. That's the way I decorate and those things have special meaning to my life. When my eye lands on my family ephemera it inspires me to have courage in difficult times.

I also get frustrated at how much money I pay for items that don't endure. Cars, phones, computers, televisions and the service providers take a substantial portion of my earnings. I've done away with television and satellite, one extra internet connection and two cell phones. My hubby refuses to give up his cell phone, and as long as he insists on that luxury, I'll keep my computer and internet. As soon as I quit working I plan to rid myself of the extra vehicles. If I lived in a comfortable city with lots to do within walking distance, I would do away with the vehicles. Right now I'm working to pay for vehicles to get to work...LOL.

I have always had a rule in the home that I will buy what a family member wants once, but if it breaks it will not be replaced by me. The exception has always been the computers and autos. Since we live in a very rural area, they have been important to stay connected to the world.

I read wills of my great grandparents that pass down vests, coats, pants, tools and farm implements, dishes, pans, livestock, quilts and bedding to their children. They had so little that these items were important. Now we throw away and give those things away. It shows we are not placing importance on our buys and taking care of what we have. With the economy being the way it has been, we may be forced to go back to those days. I'll keep the hope chest my mother and I purchased when I was 16 for the long trip over hills and dale to our retirement home...LOL.

leas44 Calkelley~ Yes yes yes! Every time I think of my house clutter, every time my children come home from staying with my in laws and bring BAGS of toys, every time I open my mailbox and hoards of advertisements for things I never wanted or needed, I think about the generations past and how simple their lives were, how uncluttered some of their homes were. When I first started dating my husband, he'd been living in his great grandparents house and hadn't changed anything since they had passed. There was perfect simplicity, it looked like a modern magazine reaching for simplicity and minimalism. That impression flashes through my mind often as I think about all the *junk*. Whats worse, I can't seem to get my inlaws to be on the same page as me. I feel like I'm already buried deep and they keep putting more things on top of me. I made a rule that whatever is bought at grandma's stays at grandma's, but it has become lax again and more things are being sent to our home again. I had thought that if I made this rule she would have to keep those things and she would eventually see the piles starting at her house but she continues to buy buy buy! She and her husband have a "barn" that is stuffed full of things that they find on sale and "might need some day" so I suppose its silly of me to think that they might get on the same page as me. Ironically my husband goes nuts around clutter, and I find that as I become more bothered about it and I do more about it, he is becoming less sensitive to it and more accepting. Natural balancing act right? I have such a hard time throwing away perfectly good items, because of that "appreciating more and valuing less" attitude towards things, so much of my life I didn't have things or money and it hurts to get rid of things that I could have used then, it seems ungrateful and wasteful even if I cant use it now. Anyway I didn't mean for this to be a rant but our consumerism is crazy; we pay next to nothing for so many things so we buy more junk because it doesn't cost much, while we hand over our governments and average citizen's financial stability to a government who stands for much we are against.

pjtime leas44...I certainly sympathize. I only had one child and all his relatives had passed away before he was born, so I never had any problem with controlling the toys and gifts, but ever since I met my hubby the house has been a disaster. I can't imagine the impact of adding a few more kids to the equation. Part of the problem was that we could buy more on two incomes, and so we did. Now we both are on the same page, but changing bad habits takes time. He looks at the big picture and gets overwhelmed. I try to help by focusing on one thing at a time and try to accomplish at least one thing every weekend I'm off work. So many of us are going through the same experience. Life is stressful and we are realizing we are trying to satiate our unhappiness with stuff and it's not working.

Norma Sassone You know, I think part of the answer to all this consumption would be to buy only real quality things MADE IN the USA! with union labor paid a decent wage, unlike the slave labor that makes 90% of the crap we buy from China nowadays. I buy mostly handmade stuff from www.etsy.com now - expensive and beautiful - especially toys for my granddaughter. I don't buy very much, but it is well made and cherished and not disposable. In addition, this would be a real boon to OUR country's economy - not China's!!! Look at all these lovely things made in our own wonderful country all available on etsy.

gypsyrose17 Our puppy did manage to help us purge a trove of slippers that were well worn as well as many shoes, (unfortunately usually just one of each pair), stuff stored in under the bed bags, the paperbacks on lower shelves...

suvinia Thank you Alison for your 'words of counsel' (that's what I call it.) I am in the middle of decluttering because (my son) has decided he wants to move back home, which meant bringing his belongings (furniture) too. I know I have a lot of sentimental things in the house and my children are forever telling me to get rid of them. I feel so guilty when I try to. I am not a hoarder as my house is neat and tidy but, I have a store room that is chocka.
Thanks to you I now know how to deal with all of this. Room by room and lots of courage.

Melanie McNamara Every month or so my husband and I go through our 2 bedroom apartment and purge. We take things that still may be useful to others to a local second hand store in our city. I had so many things put away out of sight that I believe others would enjoy. I don't miss them and every inch of condo living is inportant. We surround ourselves with only the things that we love.

alisanorrey I think that I can do it now. Thank you.

Jubi Arriola_Headley Poetic. I can't share any sentiment that hasn't already been shared by some Houzzer in previous comments. Still, I feel the need to reinforce them. I never expected to be moved by something I read on Houzz - and I was.

My partner has a small property in Guatemala, where I sit as I type this message. The kitchen is barely half the size of my home in Houston - no dishwasher or microwave, and about ten linear feet of counter space - including the sink and stove. There's a small living room which also contains the dining table, and a loft bedroom with a built-in armoire about five feet wide for all our storage.

I feel infinitely happier, and freer, here than I ever have in my 2,000 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2 bath house in Houston - freer to take long walks, to socialize, read, and yes, to write and think. In my Houston home, every time I look up, I see something that needs attending to, something I haven't done. That explains why I'm planning to sell my Houston home in the next two years. It literally will feel, I am sure, as if a weight has been lifted.

Forgive me for possibly rambling - I just wanted to let you know how eloquently you captured my own personal experience. Killing us softly, as it were.

Melanie McNamara Jubi Arriola_Headley, I believe that the more we travel and experience how others live, we realize how silly we are in North America. We believe that we will be happier with big homes and everything that we fill it with. I haved been blessed late in life by finding a husband who loves life and all it has to offer. It has opened my eyes...what do I want has changed to what do I need? My plans today...to further cleanse our apartment and our lives from things that no longer give me joy.

pauli12 I think it is wonderful how you have found what is a perfect fit for you, Jubi. We just went from a 1000 square foot home to a 1600 foot home and I love the extra space. Not for putting more things in it though, but just to have to move around and some quiet spaces to call my own.
It is the first time in our married life we have each had a bathroom and I love that most of all!

No, these things aren't necessities but are niceties', for me anyway.

I have actually been purging more since we moved here. It is like I now feel the freedom to know what I actually want. before I thought I needed to hold on to things for when we might move and I would have room for them but now that I have the room I don't want much.

Jubi Arriola_Headley Melanie - YES. I can't put it any more clearly than you have.

Pauli - I definitely think that there's a "right" amount of space for a family. , it's a relative kind of thing. And I am an avid fan of Sarah Susanka - she'd say that planned right, 1,000 or 1,600 square feet can feel spacious and inviting; planned wrong, 3,000 square feet can feel constricting. Bravo on finding the space that's right for you, and for not being afraid of a little "negative space."

BTW, I do believe that one bathroom per partner can often enhance (read: save) a marriage. ;-)

pauli12 I love Sarah Susanka. I pored over her books. I have always had a fascination with home design. Not that I know anything about it, but the logistics of it are just cool, to me.
I always liked the less is more idea. One of her ideas I loved was the "away room". We always just had a combo dining, kitchen, living room before and the only other room I had to go to was the bedroom and I didn't like going in there unless I had something to do.

So now I have a little den off of our bedroom that I can go to and feel "away".

Thank you for your encouraging remarks, Jubi. It is so wonderful to be understood.
I think this is just such a nice topic.:-)

Norma Sassone I so agree with the "away room" concept. Since our huge downsizing from 3500 sq ft. to a rental condo about 3 years ago, we have purged and purged and downsized even more, but the only escape room is still on the main floor where I can hear the TV through the door. If I go upstairs, there is only one bedroom and a bath and I tend to fall asleep if I read up there!. I miss my upstairs office from my old house where I could escape.. Also now, the little extra guest bedroom on the main floor is ridiculously small (9 X 10 feet) and we could hardly get a full sized sleeper sofa through the door - forget about a queen! There is a fine line between downsizing just enough and still maintaining a life style that includes privacy for both members of a couple and/or their guests. The hardest part is that we no longer want to buy a home, but remain renters, so we are mobile and not tied to a house. Finding everything you need in a less than 1000 square foot rental is really a challenge. ( In addition to feeding my appetite for decorating without putting too many holes in the walls or painting them orange!)

pauli12 Norma, I love your ideas and comments and it validates my feelings, so thanks.
You sound extremely innovative and I believe you will find a way to get that away-ness you need!

maryloufadden Getting ready to move into our new built smaller home. After 30 years in a historic victorian home that we filled every corner with antiques and stuff, we knew we could not take all with us. Thank GOD!!! Have been selling off items ,loving every moment of it. There is a freedom one feels ...many items also have been donated to charity . Looking forward to a fresh start and keeping all of the "best" loved items. I do not nor have I given a second thought of anything we had let go. LESS is MORE !!

pauli12 I am happy for you, Mary! Enjoy you new found freedom.

montanasherryc Having now lived out of tiny suitcases for nearly four months again, we are again struck by how simple and enjoyable is with less stuff. The purging has begun. I have a van load to haul off to Goodwill this week and that is just the beginning.

A. Peltier Interiors Great article! Everyone should de-clutter, even if they can only de-clutter a little. Its a refreshing feeling to know that you have donated things someone else can use and gotten rid of stuff that just takes up space. It teaches your children to be mindful of what they purchase and to use what you have. My bother has a great rule in his house. If you wan to buy something new, you have to get rid of something old.

bonnieinflorida This is one of most touching and relevant articles I have ever read. Thank you for posting it, and for referencing it in your "How about Now" article.

I did this same sort of purging almost 10 years ago when I retired and moved from my 9-room home to a 3-room apartment. I invited all of the kids to come with their families for a long holiday weekend and pulled out everything I'd saved over the years. I told them what I planned to take with me, and that this was the last time they'd see everything else unless it was taken home by one or another of them.

Watching them go through the accumulated possessions of a lifetime, and share stories about them with each other and their own children, is a memory I treasure. It was a wonderful weekend! And when it was over, I had pared down enough to look forward to my move without the guilt that could have gone along with it. Thank you, Alison, for reminding me of that experience.

ssgj I am not even finished with this article but I want to say right now that I am ABSOLUTELY LOVING IT. It's as if you wrote this specifically for me. Thank you, thank you. Best article I've read on Houzz!