"Put the stuff in the boxes"

"Put the stuff in the boxes"

This was the response I received from my husband, Mike, when I was overwhelmed with the prospect of packing up all of our worldly possessions and moving them to our new home in Newfoundland, PA. I asked him "What do I do?"

Now I am very excited to be moving, don't get me wrong. And I have been preparing for this, been donating a great deal of things to charitable organizations. Nonetheless, it is overwhelming. The house is currently in, well, I would say the word "shambles" would actually fit.

In spite of my quest to downsize, I am finding I still have WAY TOO MUCH STUFF!!!  I will continue to try very hard to let it go as I move forward with packing. I guess I knew from the beginning, this is a process.

A picture is worth...a lifetime.

Well, today I started going through the pictures. Many years ago, when we moved from my childhood home, I somehow became the "keeper" of the family pictures. Both sides of the family. Old black and white photos of unknown relatives, pics of my famous Grandfather, Skip Nelson,(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3-2R7wUsf0) my own baby pics, and thousands of pictures, bringing me to the present. 

Again, as with the books, I have been boxing these up and moving them, as they have multiplied, for more than 20 years. I have given many away, sharing with my sister....but still the boxes grow. Now we have the pictures from Mike's family as well.  

I made it through two boxes today. Tried not to linger when I got the puppy pics of my beloved Nala, whom we just lost at Christmastime. Or when I got to pictures of my mother. Resolved I would not cry. 

I ended up making four "piles". Pics for myself, my sis, my dad, and the trash (recycle bin). I have always felt a bit strange about that last category. I have come to the realization that if they are in a box, and nobody EVER looks at them, and they are blurry, random shot of nothing...they can go. It's ok. I am ready.  Two boxes boiled down to a half a box.

The quest continues......

Spring Cleaning

Well, I have begun the process. Cleaning. Going through boxes. Downsizing. Simplifying. The first task was to decide what to do with it all. Toss it? Sell it? Donate it? The mere thought of holding a yard sale, watching the vultures sort through my belongings with a judging eye, only to offer pennies for what was once priceless to me, was more than I could bear. An Internet search yielded the answer: Donating the items to the Vietnam Veterans Association (http://www.scheduleapickup.com) was the first option, and they would take books, household items, and clothing.  Winner!!!

Books. Books everywhere. I recently went to the home of two university professors, and I no longer feel so bad about the number of books I have accumulated, but I still want to downsize.  As I began to carry box after box of books down the two flights of stairs, I reflected on the fact that I have carried many of these books around since I left home at 20 - 20 years and about 9 or 10 moves later, I am still carrying the hardback version of Firestarter. Don't get me wrong, I love Stephen King. But I have NEVER read this book beyond the first time when I was a teenager. And yet I pack it up and move it. Over and over again. This, and hundreds of pounds of other books just like it. I sort with impunity. If they are damaged, they get recycled, in good condition, donated, and certain items, sparingly, we decided to keep. I believe we downsized the book collection by at least 7 or 8 boxes. I cannot say that I didn't have a pang. Many of these older books belonged to my mother. But I think she would understand.  So, this is the beginning of the quest.

The Quest....

The Quest is an ideal. A Pie in the Sky notion, really. A simple life. The kind you read about in Buddhist magazines or the kind of "lifestyle" for wealthy people who have the time and money to be "-less".  The Quest for less, to me, is finding a way to meld those simplistic ideals with a life. A real one. With cars, and bills, and jobs - how do you Feng Shui your life? 

My Quest began some time ago. A serious illness. A major surgery. A vow. It really started with the realization that I had been sick for some time, years really, and didn't even know it. In my drive to become a psychologist, to help people become more self aware, healthy, I had lost touch with..well, me.

Facing surgery was scary. Facing the fact that I needed to make some "MAJOR LIFE CHANGES" was terrifying. So, I had the surgery. Recovered. And decided that I had always wanted to take a yoga class. April of 2008. First yoga class. Healing Yoga in Douglassville. Dorian. Ahhh... It was truly "love at first Ohm".  I had done my research, my father's daughter all the way, and discovered that a gentle and healing class would be for me, post-surgery. In addition, Dorian has a counseling background, so I felt that it would be a class with greater focus on the principles of yoga, instead of a vigorous class that just tried to twist you into a pretzel. 

For the first class, Dorian said she could see that I really connected with Yoga, and I do. I have studied yoga over the last two years, and continue to learn.  But the real experiment will begin tomorrow - we have decided to "downsize".  We have three families' worth of "stuff", and with the possibility of a move looming, the thought of moving it all is overwhelming to say the very least. Tomorrow, we begin the Quest for Less.....

Stay tuned.

The Quest for Less....

My name is Michelle. I am searching. Searching for less. Yes, that's right...LESS. Less chaos, less stuff, less confusion, and, while we're at it, less of me. In my quest for a happier life, I am struck by the recurring theme of "less is more". And not in that tounge-in-cheek way either. But in the way that I am coming to realize that a simplified life is one that can lead to great things. Through this site, I hope to share what I have learned about keeping things simple, and also to bring you along on my journey - quest, if you will, to push the boundary of - less.