Simple Living

Spring is right around the corner and I have been thinking about spring cleaning. I usually take that time to do things like wash walls, wash cupboard doors and wash windows. Another thing I do is get rid of things that aren't useful any more. Especially items that accumulate over the winter because they are too big to take outside in bad weather.

My parents are having a yard sale in a month or two. I am selling several things and hope to be rid of those large items that aren't useful any more and taking up space. Things like an old console TV, old dining room table and a queen Anne's couch. I want to keep streamlining this house. I find that I am ready to part with more and more because they serve no purpose other than taking up valuable space. And in this little house, space has to be approached like a rare commodity.

Living in a small space has it's advantages though. It takes less to heat and cool. It cost less in mortgage. It has less time invested in cleaning and maintaining the property. It is a size that we really use and rooms don't sit empty waiting for someone to visit them. It means joining a gym because there isn't room for a ton of exercise equipment. Besides, if we don't have a gym membership we tend to not exercise.

All that said, it has it's challenges. Living small means you have to keep only the things that have purpose, meaning and a place to live in your home. It means constantly sorting, organizing and getting rid of excess. Hmmm, sounds like a life lesson for me in that last statement.

Simple living for me means living small.