It is not enough if you are busy. The question is, What are you busy about? –Henry David Thoreau
I apologize for slipping away last week – just in time to reveal our decluttering progress! As many of you know, Martin and I are in awe of how country neighbors help one another. So that’s just what we were doing. I got to spend a lot of time outside and with a frugal, inspiring old man.
Okay, everybody. It’s time for you to call the shots. I hope you’ve been joining me in The Decluttering Project, where we’ve been attacking various corners of our homes from under the bed to sentimental heirlooms. And it’s not over yet! Martin just signed up for classes as we work toward our big family goal I shared with you a few months ago. But before the school season gets going for everyone, I have an idea. It’s something we can all do, so I hope you’ll join me.
Have you ever heard of compulsive cluttering or obsessive hoarding? It’s actually a disease, and I remember being in the homes of people who just brought so much stuff into their homes until the spaces completely filled up. You couldn’t even open the door of one home all the way.
Gradually, no one was going into those homes but the people who lived there. Not even their own grandchildren were visiting! There just wasn’t room for visitors. All of this stuff – enormous quantities of things and the accumulation of more things took over these peoples’ lives. It was new stuff; it was old stuff. It was things that mattered, and it was things that didn’t. And they were so embarrassed, but they just couldn’t stop. It’s such a heartache to experience!
We’ve been getting a lot of junk mail lately. It’s all been coming from a satellite tv company and a toilet paper company. (Don’t ask – we have no idea how this combo came to be!) It’s been amazing to read the fliers from the satellite tv company - how we have to get their service! how there’s so much we’re missing out on! how we deserve to have it! how we could be so much happier!
Yikes! Have several months really gone by since our latest No New Clothes Challenge update? Yowzers.
To help refresh your memory, last May Martin and I decided to stop buying new clothes. The plan was to go the entire summer without buying any clothes. But then going without new clothes became a habit. Fast forward to today – over a year later! – and we’re still not buying clothes.
Hooray! Hooray! Today is part of a 3-day weekend in the United States. It’s a quiet day on the internet… a good day for housekeeping.
What?! Housekeeping? On a holiday weekend?
Yep! As far as I know, the grocery stores in Germany are open. So a little business today is totally okay and totally legal in Germany. Plus I think you’ll like to know…
I'm an American in Berlin, Germany. My apartment is 480 square feet; the kitchen's only 36. This blog chronicles the DIY approach my husband and I take in Making This Home.Read more.
