Stuff. So much stuff.
Sometimes we don't realize how much stuff we have until we are going through each and every piece of it. I read somewhere recently that the average American household had about 300,000 items in it. I thought that was a ridiculous number, until I started thinking about all the stuff in my own home.
So, what do we get for those 300,000 items? Do they make us happy? Do they save us time and energy? Do they free up our lives so we can go out and invest in people, relationships, our communities? Or have we just wasted the time it takes to work for that stuff? Wasted the money in purchasing it? Wasted our efforts in keeping it organized? And clean? And accessible? Does that stuff help lift us up, or does it just weigh us down?
Well, recently we have been going through all of the things we own. Some of it will make it to the trash, some to donations, some of it we are keeping, and lots of it will be sold!
Why don't we need our stuff you may be asking? Well, we are moving. No, no. We aren't leaving Virginia just yet (we still have about 15 months left at this command), but we are moving out of military housing. We've decided to downsize into something smaller. Much, much smaller. Our current place is about 1430 sq. ft. Our next place will be about 400 sq. ft! Yes, you read that right: 400 sq ft for a family of 5. You thought we were crazy, but I'm sure you didn't think we were this crazy! (Or maybe you did.)
I'm sure you have a lot of questions right now. Like, why? Why in the world would you do this to yourself? Are you seriously selling all of your stuff? How is that even possible to live in a place so small?
I've got lots of reasons for each of those, but I'll give you the short version! (You're welcome.) It comes down to just a few ideals:
1. We don't want to raise our children to be little consumers who always want "things" to fill up their lives. We want to instill contentment, simplicity, imagination.
2. With the style of learning we will be following there will be a lot of time spent out doors, getting into nature, meeting all sorts of people, going to different places, attending festivals, and just playing. For me it came down to lighten our load to make those adventures possible! I do so much better when things are clean and organized. So wanting to leave a house full of messy stuff to go to the zoo doesn't work for me. It needs to be clean before we can leave for the zoo. So much easier to leave the house when you only have to keep 400 sq ft clean!
So, how are we going to make 400 sq ft work? And if we sell all of our possessions how are we going to live?! The answer is easy: our new home comes in the form of a 5th wheel RV. Yup, there's that crazy again! It has all of the amenities/furniture we "need" built right in. Our clothes, bedding, some kitchen items, much less toys, and homeschool supplies will all make the cut, but so many other things will not. We have also decided to rent a very small storage unit for some items that we will not be getting rid of, but don't need to be taking up our everyday living space.
It's going to be a challenge. I'm sure there will be some major growing (well, downsizing) pains. But Patrick and I have decided that this is the course we would like to take for our family, and can't wait to get the wheels rolling!
Pray for us. And let the madness begin!! :)
