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Monday, November 24, 2014

the dream vs. the reality

{ all photos via my Pinterest "home love" board }
I dream of living a minimalistic lifestyle. Of having a only highly curated collection of beloved items in my home. Of a sparse closet filled with neutral luxe basics. Only what I need. Everything with extreme utility. Less quantity. More quality.

In fact I have been actively seeking this out my entire stay in Nashville. When I moved here in 2009, I settled into a 1600 sq. foot apartment. That baby was a palace! Since, I have progressively downsized, so that I now share 700 sq. feet with my husband, 2 pugs, & all the clothes I have accumulated throughout the years. 

During our last move from a 975 sq. foot home to our current place, I started to slough off anything that I didn't love. See you later cheap particle board bedroom set. Bye buckets of questionable clothing from college theme party nights. Get outta here mis-matched dishes. Thankfully we were able to upgrade much of our kitchen goods & some furniture with the help of generous wedding presents, so those were not very difficult good-byes.

The hard ones were the pieces well worn with memories. The antique iron bed frame that I had had since being a little girl - it was full size, & I knew I would not have a bed that size again for at least a very long time (future little girl's room 10+ years from now?). The Fiesta dishes I had used since college - no longer a complete set because I am clumsy, but I had so many memories with those plates. A family typewriter that I loved to look at, but never used (That piece had a happy Nashville ending, & now lives at this coffee shop).
The clothing purge is a whole different story as well. I am still working on ridding my closet of "one-hit wonders", inexpensive trendy items, & duplicates that aren't doing anything for me. I have already donated several bags to Goodwill, had clothing swaps with friends, & sold some on Poshmark, but still have a pile on my floor of items that I know I should part with… the struggle! Mostly I have my closet down to a reasonable number of items, & am now working on a one-in-one-out policy for upgrading the quality of my most worn items (the closet staples, duh).
But here is where the dream of living a minimalistic lifestyle meets the reality of my life. What about all the dog stuff? What about all those pictures? What about off season clothes? Where do holiday decorations go? Those boxes & boxes of beauty products? 

I had convinced myself that I was just a terrible American consumerist who couldn't part with my stuff, thus undeserving of that streamlined Scandinavian lifestyle I so lusted after. But then this Instagram let me in on a little secret - it isn't about having less stuff, it is about having more (off-location) storage. Is this the truth behind all those pictures on my Pinterest board? How did I not realize this before? I feel like I just discovered photoshopping in magazines… so naive! 

For now, I will continue to evaluate the utility of everything in my life (my goal is to usually rehome/sell/throw away something everyday!) & dream of this utilitarian apartment in my mind.
Do you dream of living a minimalistic lifestyle? How do you cut out the extra stuff from your life? More storage? An extreme level of self control? Tell me your secrets!

10 comments:

  1. I try to do a clean out every few months and sell or donate anything that isn't serving a purpose! I have a shopping habit, so total minimalism isn't in the cards right now, but I this way I'm at least keeping a balance! These are gorgeous spaces!


    Theresa
    http://www.underhonesttrees.com

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  2. it's so hard to be so minimal.. I need to donate a ton of stuff and try to get better with it! xxo
    Jamie
    www.candystilettos.com

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  3. I have been trying to make more of an effort to clean out things, just one small area, once a week. With a busy schedule it gets difficult, but over the past two years, two moves have forced me to live more minimally! I could certainly stand to get rid of a few more things!

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  4. I know exactly what you mean. We have started purging things we don't need/want. I want to live with less, but I think it will take a while to get to that point. We have made a goal to get rid of, donate, and/or sell a bag of stuff every week. Coco from Light by Coco has been SUPER inspirational to me. She has a Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp12IFoANz_tEY6YgZFqohA. She has a blog, too: http://www.lightbycoco.com/. I love her thought process on minimalism (she calls it "living light"). She said in one of her videos that a wall full of books can be just as light as no books at all. I love that, because what I really want to do is minimalize the burden of having too many things. I want a wall of books, because I love books! But there are other items I don't want a lot of, so I work at purging those items.

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  5. it can be so hard to downsize. I try to clean my closet out once every 6 months.

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  6. We share a very similar love for white in the home! Why can't everything be as pretty as they are in photos.

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  7. I admire people that can purge without worry. I am excited that I will be donating LOTS of clothes this year, and I've sold a few things too. I am really trying to pair down my closet.

    -AJ

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  8. Oh girl I totally relate to this. Savannah & I have given away sooooo much stuff over the last year + When we moved into the house we're in now, we got rid of a lot of stuff. We've had 2 garage sales & taken several truckloads to Goodwill, but magically there still seems to be so much stuff! However, in our excitement to get rid of everything unneccessary or not useful, we have gotten rid of things that we should've kept in the end. We got rid of a lot of craft supplies that we later regretted (we are still swimming in craft supplies however). It's hard to know what to get rid of and what to keep.

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  9. Great post! Love that you are cleaning your fabulous closet out on Posh!

    xo,
    Team Posh

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Thank you for your comments, they make my day!!
xx