Have you ever looked at piles of laundry and just felt overwhelmed by it all? For some of us, the thought of putting away all those clothes after they are washed is the worst part. We’ve all been there: Struggling to hang clothes in a closet that is over-stuffed…pushing clothes down in the drawer just trying to get it closed…and still feeling like we have nothing to wear.
Most of us just own too much stuff! It weighs us down, like an anchor stuck when a boat is ready to sail. The good news? We can do something about it and explore a simpler life.
For the month of October (and episode 50 of Siren Soapbox), the sirens challenged ourselves to get rid of things every day. How many things? The date is the number of things we got rid of that day…and by the end of October we had cleared our spaces of 465 items each (some of us included the 31st day, so that was actually 496 items)!
Sidebar: Here’s a quick way to figure out how many items you’ll get rid of in 31 days (if you follow the patter 1+2+3+4…+31). If you plan to do this for fewer days, just replace the 31 with your total number of days.
This idea came from The Minimalists and their game: The 30 Day Minimalism Challenge. You can find it here.
If you’re having a difficult time finding the motivation to do this, or understanding why you should give it a try, check out the Minimalists’ documentary, Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things (it’s on Netflix).
Seeing is believing, right? Check out our progress (and all the extra “baggage” we have shed – the anchors we tossed away):
Siren LC:
Siren Mur:
Siren Jess:
Siren Sara:
Siren TC:
Siren Shannon:
Sometimes the sirens have different feelings or opinions about our adventures…but on this episode all of the sirens completely agreed: We all felt better getting rid of the things we don’t use…the things we don’t need…the things that don’t bring us joy. We each experienced relief and a sense of liberation. And all of us kept going beyond the month of October.
The Things you own end up owning you.
It’s only after you lose everything that you’re free to do anything.
Brad Pitt (Fight club)
Take our advice…
…and Lighten Up!