Well, the big things are that we don’t own a TV, and therefore don’t have a couch, nor do we have much furniture.
Our dining room is also our office, and our bedroom is also our living room.
Here’s a sneak peek into our apartment (and yes we have wall to wall windows on one side of our apartment)…
It’s nice where we live, but where I USED to live (at my parents), it was a hot mess.
My parents wouldn’t and still won’t let me toss anything away either, but my mom constantly laments about how the house is so messy, so cluttered, so dirty.
FB: Why don’t you just toss this couch then? We don’t need 4 couches.
Mom: NO! We can’t toss that couch! It’s OUR couch.FB: I know. but we have 4 here.
Why do you need this one? This one doesn’t even have cushions any longer!
We’re sitting on a skeleton of a couch!
(Literally. No cushions, skeleton base only)
Mom: I RAISED you on that couch. You were breastfed on that couch and bla bla bla …FB: *plugs ears*
In the end, I’m glad my parents left for the weekend, because I wrangled clutter out of the home that had worked its way into my old bedroom.
Then I set a new rule: If it comes into my old bedroom, it could be kidnapped and donated over night.
It’s the only way to control the clutter.
Now I’m itching to go around the rest of the house and just fill up a truck of stuff to donate. But BF had to hold me back (literally).
BF: FB, it is NOT YOUR STUFF. Leave it alone.FB: But would she noticed these disgusting running shoes gone? I mean, look! It’s in two pieces!!!! The sole is coming right off, it’s like a cover for bare feet.
BF: She will notice.
FB: How do you know? Maybe she won’t.
BF: Trust me.
FB: Hmm….. *eyes it* I’ll come back for it next time I visit if it’s still here.
BF: *groan*
Then we sat around and calculated how much space my parents were wasting.
We figured that the whole basement was a loss of space (I mean, literally.. boxes to the ceiling of stuff, or worse, EMPTY boxes).
They only need half the space, maybe less. Including the bedrooms that they don’t even use.
When I go back, I’m going to clean out the rest of my room (books to sell), and maybe attack the basement and quietly cart away things that I KNOW my parents will not miss.
That’s what got me thinking:
I think that when people say “I need a bigger home“, what they should be saying is “I need to re-think what I have, and maybe pare down“.
There are a lot of homes I’ve been to, where I just.. feel so cramped and cluttered (my parents’ house is not the worst), and the space was triple or four times the size of what I was living in!
There is just too much STUFF everywhere in people’s homes, and as I drift deeper and deeper into a minimalist lifestyle, I am noticing all of it in great detail.
Stuff on the walls, dysfunctional pieces of furniture that aren’t useful, everything in a mess, boxes stacked up to the ceiling….
It gives me a headache, check out these homes I am itching to de-clutter.
OMG. I just want to grab a basket and start making a donation box.
I think what they need is also shelves and drawers because there seems to be a lack of storage in general.
Even what we own (the small amount of it), I want to pare down even more.
I want more gone. But we’re already on the minimum of being comfortable and I know I’d just end up buying the item back into the apartment again, so I curb my instincts. 
Maybe you just need less stuff.
THREE FB GIVEAWAYS THIS MONTH!
- Have I killed BF yet? (aka FB’s New Apartment)
- Trying to get rid of things, is futile.
- Just get rid of it
- Still more naysayers about the apartment life
- How to cut down on clutter
Breast Pump Mary
on Oct 18th, 2009
@ 10:23 AM:
What a mess!
You’ve got a great idea! People often resort to having a big house because of lots of clutters they have. They think it is the house with the problem overlooking that it may be because of over decorating a house not big enough to hold such that number of clutters. Re-decorating is the first step, if it still didn’t work… change the house rather!
threadbndr
on Dec 8th, 2009
@ 10:06 PM:
When I move to Tulsa in 6 months, I am going to declutter my life – not as radically as you are (keeping the books), but pretty radically for me.
FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com
on Dec 9th, 2009
@ 8:01 AM:
Glad to hear it!
Just don’t go so far. BF is a nut about that sometimes