The Rookie Mama
“All you can take with you is that which you’ve given away.” – Pa Bailey, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’
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And there you have it – You’ve heard some semblance of this, I’ve heard this, we’ve all heard it.
Yet we collectively mad dash to the photo finish of each year with resolutions to start the page flip to January fresh and new.
Among habits atop New Year’s resolutions for many remain the inevitable hopes and dreams to declutter, minimize, and let the rampant consumerism take a beat.
My family is ever-aspirational here – We continue to ask ourselves whether certain household items are really so needed. Do we hold dearly to some items out of legitimate sentiment or out of sheer guilt?
Do we really need two whisks?
Clutter makes us cringe, so we toss, donate and repurpose what we can with intention.
Baby steps. Whisk-y business, indeed.
Our Christmas tree may be artificial – and we’re sure proud of it – but our continued goal toward minimalism bliss is evergreen.
Be that as it may, our family tries at a mega-declutter at the beginning of December, rather than January, our early resolution tradition.
Beginning of December purging of items past is the perfect time to prepare for Christmas presents yet to come.
It’s a time to reflect – room by room – and determine what really needs keeping.
The basement uses this refresh year-round, too.
Last month, I tripped over one of my kiddos’ projects askew on the basement floor, tucked away for who-knows-what.
A family heirloom it was not – Rather, what lay before me was a solar system project from the year before. A glittering, sparkling, Styrofoam mess – Styrofoam is the enemy of our planet, yet here it was emulating several planets.
Too big and bulky to neatly store with our boys’ other school-morabilia, there was no real place for it to live.
I breathed deeply and gingerly asked my son if I could throw it away.
Without hesitation, he gave me a response truly out of this world, solar-system-style – ‘Yes’.
Perhaps he realized that this would be part of his inheritance, his dowry if you will, something to explain to his future spouse, if we didn’t scrap this now.
I chalked it up to a win and thanked my lucky glitter-glue stars for it.
Henry David Thoreau once said, “I make myself rich by making my wants few,” and what wise words indeed.
Our memories are in our minds, not in our things, and whatever problems we have today will not be resolved by purchasing more stuff.
As Americans, accumulation is our jam, unwittingly so, and stuff adds up quickly.
But decluttering your home needn’t be overwhelming or daunting.
Schedule regular times to declutter regularly as you go. Embrace empty space.
Follow the ‘one in, one out’ rule – When you bring a new item into your home, get rid of a similar old one.
For example, coffee mugs. Think of the coffee mugs.
Before buying something, ask yourself if you really need it by keeping non-essentials in your ‘cart’ 48 hours to see if they’re truly needed.
Prioritize experiences over material goods. It takes up less space but capitalizes on fabulous memories.
Other tips that are small works in progress include organizing your phone, limiting distractions, cleaning your inbox, and simplifying your wardrobe.
So toss that spare ‘just-in-case’ kitchen item or donate it to someone who could use it.
Over time, this decluttering will leave you feeling content in a way that no amount of coffee cups ever can.
Because in the end, all you can take with you is that which you’ve given away.
Same goes for old school projects.
No one needs that much Styrofoam.
– Michelle Cote lives in southern Maine with her husband and four sons, and enjoys camping, distance running, biking, gardening, road trips to new regions, arts and crafts, soccer, and singing to musical showtunes – often several or more at the same time!
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