Are you willing to pay the price?
Last week, I volunteered chaperone my son and his classmates from school to the theater where they were having the dress rehearsal for the school's musical. Before leaving, the wise teacher told the students: "Do you need to leave anything in the classroom? Whatever you have in your hands you must carry with you all the way to the theater and back. Are you committing to whatever you have in your hands?" They all said a very convincing "yes" and marched out with their lunch bags, water bottles, books and belongings.
This morning, before vacuuming the carpet, I had to pick up an infinite number of toys, paper, clothes, etc and I thought how much easier it would be if we just didn't have this much *stuff*. Because keeping all of this stuff comes with a price. I am not talking about the price tag I paid when I bought it. I mean the maintenance cost to keep these things in our house and in our lives. Pool and yard owners know exactly what I am talking about. A big box of toys that have not been played with in a long time takes up space that could be used for something else – or just free space! It takes work to move it every time I have to clean the floor. It takes mental space to remember all that is in it. And I don't even want to think about when it gets dumped all over the floor...
The more we have, the more work it takes to keep it. I am not sure I am committed to taking care of all this *stuff*: more-than-needed books, toys, clothes, shoes, boxes, pencils, paper, etc. I don't want to spend time, energy and space on things that are not necessary, helpful or meaningful – but I have been without noticing. The abundancy, easy access to manufactured goods, must-have-all culture, the sales and discounts have a high-maintenance fee which I am not willing to pay. The school kids didn't have trouble at all carrying their stuff, because they only took what they needed and they had to commit to caring about. Are we doing the same in our lives, only carrying what is necessary and useful? Or are we trying to carry too many things at once and running the risk of dropping it all?
A few weeks ago, I noticed how crowded my closet looked and how hard it was to find anything to wear – even though it was full of clothes! I looked up some ideas about a capsule closet and decided to try it. I took everything out of the closet and laid it in the bed. Then I made 3 piles: love it, hate it, maybe. The "hate it" pile went into plastic bags, out to donation. The "maybe" pile contained some seasonal stuff that needs to be put away for now, but might be needed in the next season. It also had some pieces that what I am not sure I am ready to part with, so I put it in a suitcase to decide their case later. The "love it" items were matched up in ready-to-use outfits and put back into the closet in usage order: casuals in front, dressy in the back. The result is that now when I open my closet I immediately see something I like to wear, because I only put in there what I love. I have a third of the clothes I used to have in my closet, I spend a third of the time I used to find something to wear and I enjoy it twice as much. Less is more.
I am wondering if my kids had half the toys they have, would they find what they want more easily? Would they enjoy more whatever they have and fight less over what they don't? It would certainly take up less space, and much less time and effort to clean up. That might be our next step.
