I want a simple life...

As I get older, I find myself wanting a simple life.  At the ripe ol' age of 33, I'm still learning what that means.  I look around at our house, our beautiful things and our junk, and I realized how blessed we are.  We are over blessed.  So much so that we take advantage of it.  I'm so tired of all this stuff!

So, over the next month or so, I'm totally going to simplify our lives, as much as I can and as much as I understand it.  I know there are a lot of other bloggers out there that have come to this conclusion, and I may read in on how they do this how "simply life" thing.

I know for sure that we buy stuff just to BUY stuff all the time.  That is stopping.  After Christmas.  I swear it will be done.  Not only that, but I have this desperate need to get rid of stuff.  The stuff is coming out of our ears.  It's coming out of our closets.  It's falling off our shelves.  It's totally crazy.

I've already started!  In the last month I've made three trips to Goodwill.  I've cleaned out my closet {twice, I still need to get ride of more} and the pantry and some of our kitchen and our guest bedroom {gracious, no one even LIVES in that room, how is there stuff in there??}  I even made Ashley clean out her room, she really can't handle the amount of clothes she has anyways.  I know Dave was inspired to clean out his closet.  I clean out my jewelry and am left with only the things I absolutely wear or can't bear to part with.  My life feels more simple with that little task.  I have less to choose from.  It's wonderful!  It's still way too much.

I'll slowly get rid of more of it, if I can.  But for now, it looks really pretty on our dresser, with the sweet picture of a Tiffany's box that Dave drew for me on our anniversary last year.

What is it about me that I have needed all this stuff?  And now I've changed all of a sudden?  I guess I'm learning that less is totally more.  To know that I have a dozen earrings to choose from, instead of 3 dozen, makes life SO much easier.  To know that my linen closet holds only what we need on our beds, and towels that we use for bathing and swimming, is like gold to me.  I used to cringe when I opened it, with everything falling out and messy.  Ugh.  Now I know what is in there, exactly.  Victory!

There's a pile of pure junk sitting in our basement that has needed to go to the dump since June 20th, when I cleaned out the basement.  Since then, the pile has grown, and it could still grow.  We will take it to the dump over Christmas break.  I swear it will be done.  

One day I will be able to say we live the simple life.  One day.  Until then I'll clean out my house and learn what it means to be simple.

Cheers!