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As our family moves into our yurt and gives the house to some dear friends, we've been cleaning the house and giving away, recycling, or throwing out a lot of our accumulated stuff. Join us as we "clean house" and discover the benefits of less objects in one's life.
Here are this episode’s Action Points:
Purchase Consciously — Be aware of the “hidden costs” behind the pricetag. Most items will bear environmental and social costs, as well as upkeep costs and disposal costs, not to mention the time and energy spent in storing or repairing the item. Set a “marker” for yourself, such as $20, and if anything is priced over that marker, make yourself stop and consider the hidden costs before you purchase the item.
When You Buy Something, Give Something Away — This one is easy and powerful. Whenever you purchase something, try to give something away. This keeps you at a relatively steady number of items in your life.
Re-do a Room — Choose a room in your house and go through everything. Every drawer included! Look at each item and decide if it still has a place in your life. You may be surprised at how much clutter is in there!
Instead of an Object, Choose a Subject — A deeper practice, this asks us to notice when we are choosing an object over a subject, and to consciously choose the subject instead. What is a subject? A person, experience, or skill. Go walk in that moonlight, give your partner the attention they’re asking for, or stop to give your cat or dog some love.
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5 thoughts on “Unleash Your Life Episode 12, A Little Housecleaning”
Sometimes I look around me at other people who have more things and want more things. Then it seems like the older I get I find myself thinking I have too many things. Things become clutter that fills up my living space and demands attention or tells on me by accumulating dust when ignored. Things frequently get in the way of seeing the things the kids want to show me and if they get ignored they soon pay more attention to their things than to what is going on around them. My grandma had it right when she would shake her head about the things you would see people throwing away that she had never had and had gotten along just fine without!
Ah, the power of things! So often we don’ t own them — they own us!! =)
I agree with Maude in that the older you get, the more you think you have too much stuff. I woke up in the middle of the night earlier in the week and my mind started fixating on clearing out all my art and craft items that I’ve been holding onto because “maybe the kids will need them for a school project or something.” (I used to be an art teacher, so the pack-rat mentality is difficult to kick with things that might be useful.) Luckily, our city has a reuse center for materials like this, so I can pass them on to someone who’ll use them now, not later! Great action points on this podcast! You really do have to assess everything you bring into your home or things get out of control quickly. I look forward to seeing how you use your space in the yurt.
Becky! We think of you so often in our communications with Jeff =) Oh goodness, I can relate to that thinking of “this could come in useful later!”. That has been the impetus for me to collect WAY too much stuff. What excites me is that someone will get to make use of all that art material, and it will bring such joy! You are gifting to the world! Love to you from all of us, KaRaMaL
Art supplies! I might need them for my next project. Or my quilting stuff definitely got out of hand. Also hubby and I both grew up poor so we both have strong packrat tendencies! And I agree with Kenton that sometimes oir stuff owns us!
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