post-Christmas, decluttering and minimalism?
RWL #375
Greetings from the Last Homely House! Grades are in, so I am officially on break, hence I’ll be writing you for a few weeks from the LHH, or at least saying so, since I am usually writing you from the LHH, but I’m usually not on break. It’s totally different.
So a couple of things.
It was Christmas on Monday - yay! If you celebrate, I hope you had a lovely day. We had a lovely Christmas Eve with my side of the family, a lovely Christmas morning at home with our girls, and a lovely Christmas day with my wife’s side of the family. It was a busy couple of days, but nice to spend time with family.
As is my tradition, I baked some lovely cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. I highly recommend this Cinnabon knock-off recipe.
Christmas Eve I released my fifth Flourishing in the World podcast. I will forgive you if you did not see it and the message now rests somewhere 200-deep in your email pile. I interviewed the fabulous Kathy Kram, maven of mentoring, about mentorship, and developmental networks. You can find the interview here:
Or on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
I’m thinking today about minimalism. Christmas is at once for me a day to be with family and also a day heavily laden with materialism. Our tradition is for each family member to open gifts one at a time while everyone watches and comments. The morning with just our little immediate family took three hours. Needless to say there were a lot of packages, but also we savor the moments. But it is, at the end of the day, a bunch of stuff. We all already have a lot of stuff. And so we add to the stuff and stuff it in with all the other stuff. And that got me thinking about one of my favorite lines from Thoreau -
"And when the farmer has got his house, he may not be the richer but the poorer for it, and it be the house that has got him."
And that got me thinking, it is time to clean out the basement. And my closet. And my t-shirt drawer. And probably take a box or two of books to the library. And that got me looking for articles first about decluttering, and that brought me to minimalism. So that’s the theme this week - decluttering and minimalism.
I’ll be doing a year-in-review reflection this weekend, and thinking about next year’s goals. As usual, willing good for all of you!
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Read
What: becomingminimalist, Yes, Decluttering Has an Endpoint—And It’s Wonderful
https://www.becomingminimalist.com/yes-decluttering-has-an-endpoint-and-its-wonderful/
Why: I like this attitude - it’s not a continuous process - the goal is to arrive at a healthy relationship with your stuff:
It’s not about achieving an entirely empty room or living with just a backpack. Instead, it’s about reaching a point where the things you own serve a purpose in your life. It’s the beautiful moment when you look around your space and think, “This environment frees me to pursue what’s important.”
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Watch
What: Minimalist Home, Genius Decluttering Advice for 14 minutes (15 min)
Why: This is a mashup video with commentary. Lots of good tips.
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Listen
What: The Art of Manliness, Declutter, Downsize, and Move Forward With Your Life (60 min)
Why: I enjoyed this interview. I’ve never seen the show. I like the tag line, “Keep the memories, lose the stuff.” From the description:
His name is Matt Paxton, and he’s a downsizing and decluttering expert, a featured cleaner on the television show Hoarders, the host of the Emmy-nominated show Legacy List With Matt Paxton which showcases people’s heirlooms and treasures, and the author of Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff: Declutter, Downsize, and Move Forward with Your Life.