It’s time for us to do a final clean out of our house before we meet with our realtor March 1st and put our home of twenty-five years on the market in early April. Fortunately, we also did some of this last fall knowing this time was coming.
We have gotten rid of lots of stuff, including a few SUV loads to Goodwill, bunches to the garbage, the metals re-cycler, and the enterprising folks who drive by the day before trash pick-up and throw stuff in their car or truck. Thank you all!
Now we are getting the place spiffy for showing and I am so glad we allowed plenty of time for this process. Previous moves have involved a lot of pressure and rushing. Moving is a huge project with plenty of stresses without waiting until last minute.
As we get rid of stuff our life becomes simpler. If we don’t, one day all our possessions will become a burden to us or our kids. No, thank you!
There are other virtues to thinning out our possessions. When we get rid of the excess, we can find the good stuff, the things we need and should hang onto. Moving costs will be less and our new home won’t get immediately filled with clutter. We have been looking at places on Zillow for a long time and clutter in a photo is huge buzzkill.
Simplification and organization are close cousins. About fifteen years ago, I finally got our legacy documents in order, and I put together simple instructions so that a person off the street could pay our bills and manage our affairs. Simplification is a lot of work up-front but makes things significantly better for all concerned.
Some people think they are at their best when they are multi-tasking, though research shows otherwise. Since we can only do one thing at a time, it works better to make a list and prioritize it and get going. That’s the pathway to simplification.
I get a lot of joy out of accomplishment, scratching things off my list and enjoying the order and beauty left behind. Also, it’s a good feeling just knowing it’s done.
Simple is good!
