On reducing stuffitis: “Immaculate and modest living are the planes on which we can rise over our established life and its temporary existence.”  KIM SMITH

It has been quite a while since I posted about my lifestyle reboot.

It’s because it has been put on hold for some time. First, winter prevented my getting much done, and then my hubby’s illness took front stage. But that desire to turn this bird (that I call life) around has recently begun to plague me once again.

Why, you ask? Well, it’s simple really. A basic minimum of  belongings is freeing. I once watched a news story about families who lost everything in a fire and wondered like everyone does, what will they do now? Well, they will start over. They will begin with fewer belongings. The thing everyone says at a time like that is, “it’s only things-no one was lost, things can be replaced”. So true, and yet, why don’t we live every day that way? Why do we put so much energy and time in collecting and protecting “things” ?

And why wait until such a calamity occurs? I mean, if  I could get my life down to a few boxes, maybe a bag, yes, a backpack, NOW- that would be the best thing to do. So, the lifestyle reboot is beginning to take root again.

I have so much stuff. I really have what Dave Ramsay calls Stuffitis. I look around my desk and see piles of “things” that mean something to me, but honestly, it often just looks like I cannot manage clutter. And truthfully, I cannot.

I found a site that listed ten places in our lives where we can begin to minimalize. One, the first item on the list, is our possessions. Well, duh. That for me will be the big one. But there was another on that list that made me pause. Our time.

How can we be more minimalistic with our time? Giving of our time is (to me) the best way to be generous. But to sit and play video games for hours on end, to watch movies (binging) until my body aches from sitting, and spending time walking the stores looking at more STUFF – yes, that is a waste of valuable time. Instead, we should be planting a garden, donating stuff, and spending time with family making memories.

One of the items on the list was to reduce our goals. YES! This one really spoke to me. When we have a planner/calendar that is plain old FULL of items to be attended to, we need to reduce goals. There is too much striving going on in our lives. I personally only have two goals. Eat, and breathe. Okay, three. I do need to get another book out soon. Oh, and pay bills. IS that a goal? I am saying no. It’s an item checked off my to-do list. Okay, so…my goal is to get another book written and published. That’s it. Eating is not a goal. Breathing is not a goal. Getting my life in order and donating a lot of things IS a goal. There. I have two.

So, I hope this post has given you some ideas of ways to reduce things in your life. Stuffitis is a real disease. I know. I have it. But the first step in reducing waste in our lives is to realize there is a problem.

Yes, call me the founder of Stuffitis Anonymous.