Every Monday I post Real Life Minimalists, a profile of one of my readers in their own words. If you’d like to participate, click here for details.
Today, we have a wonderful contribution from Ang, who tells us how cleaning out her parents’ home has inspired her to live with (much) less. Surf on over to her blog to read more.
Ang writes:
My parents lived in three places their entire married life. My brother was born when they were living in their first apartment, I arrived in their second home and then we moved as a family to house number three. And that’s where they stayed for the next forty plus years.
When the time came to move our folks into a retirement home and sell their house, I had to face the task alone (my brother passed away in 2005). There was so much stuff I had no idea where to begin.
I felt completely daunted by the magnitude of what I had to accomplish, but in the end I just started. I knew the longer I put it off, the worse I’d feel. I was ruthless. Knowing my parents wouldn’t be needing any of the stuff again, I donated and threw away pretty much everything.
This was before Sporty and I became minimalists, but even back then I wasn’t very sentimental. I kept the family photos and a few small mementos, but that was it.
At the time I was too overwhelmed to even consider that it might be having an impact on me, but cleaning out my parents’ home proved to be the catalyst that set us on our minimalist journey.
A year later we were getting ready to move again when I suggested to my wife, Sporty (her name is Saskia, but what started out as a joke online has stuck), that we sell everything and move into a furnished apartment.
I said it in a joke to test the waters, but I’d actually never been more serious about anything in my life. I just couldn’t face the thought of going through the whole moving process (finding boxes, packing, arranging movers etc.) again and the idea that there might be a way around it really appealed to me.
Not so side note: Sporty and I tend to move a lot, so lugging a household of stuff around just doesn’t make sense for the likes of us. Yet for years that’s exactly what we did. Looking back we still can’t believe it took us so long to get rid of everything.
I’m lucky in that Sporty is a) even less sentimental than I am and b) always open to new ideas. The next thing I knew we’d listed all our belongings on Gumtree (the local version of Craigslist) and sold everything.
Well, almost everything. It took a number of subsequent moves for us to pare down completely. But even so, we felt so liberated by the experience we ran around for weeks with these huge grins on our faces.
That was July, 2008 and we haven’t looked back or regretted the decision for a single minute. Three years later I had the opportunity to share our story at TEDx Cape Town. The response was incredible, I was amazed by how well the message was received by everyone.
That prompted me to start Mostly Mindful. In the beginning I wrote mostly about minimalism and decluttering. Sporty and I also eat a plant-based diet and try to live a sustainable life, so I began writing about that as well.
We’re known by our friends and colleagues as ‘those hippies’ because we cycle or walk everywhere, because we have a compost bucket that we take to the local city farm once a week and because we drink green smoothies for breakfast. (I think it’s the last one that horrifies them the most.)
We don’t think it’s that weird, but for a lot of people it’s a pretty bizarre lifestyle. It’s actually not. We live in town in a regular (albeit slightly small) apartment, we buy groceries at the mall and we go to the movies as often as possible. We’re also not averse to eating junk food occasionally.
I think what throws people is that we don’t own a car or a television and we have no debt whatsoever. We’re also really happy. Happier, in fact, than we’ve ever been.
{If you’d like to learn more about minimalist living, please consider reading my book, The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide, or joining my email list.}
Thanks for sharing our minimalist story Francine! Grateful greetings from Cape Town. :)
Yay, I’m so happy to meet another converted minimalist! Your kids (or whoever) will be grateful you didn’t leave a huge house to clear out. It’s hectic! :)
It’s funny how much we take for granted until we have an eye-opener like having to clear a house. I was already pretty minimally inclined by the time my dear dad died a couple of years ago, but having to clear a large four bedroomed house was an awful task that took months. Wasn’t as though I hadn’t already had surreptitious clear outs when he was ill and we had to move things around a bit. When my mother was alive I would have periodic go-throughs of the kitchen – it was an accident waiting to happen. She was half relieved I was doing it (because she knew she would never be able to do it herself) and half resentful because I was going through her things. So she would thank me and blame me all at the same time! I have furniture and possessions but we live reasonably simply and I don’t let the clutter build up. I would hate to pass on to my family the ghastly job of house clearing an overstuffed house in the future. Yes, it is a great thing not to be sentimental about things and it does make life easier. In fact, I positively enjoy giving things away. I heard your TedX talk some while ago and really enjoyed it. I am definitely one of the converted!
Finally, my people!! lol. Minimalists living an alternative lifestyle. Checking out your website. There’s a lot of turmeric supplements with black pepper. Supposedly they’re stronger than just the food version. Just in case you find capsules easier.
Hey Dimond, I actually don’t mind the taste of turmeric. Lucky me! That stuff works like a charm too, my knees are SO much better. Are you also living an alternative lifestyle? :)
Guess alternative could be construed in different ways. ;) I was primarily referring to eating a plant-based diet paired with minimalism.
Oh right, I misunderstood. So you’re also a plant-based advocate then! Nice, it’s so heartening to see that there are more and more people turning to this way of eating. Before long it won’t be ‘alternative’ anymore, it’ll be mainstream! :)
LOL, I’m “alternative,” too: Vegan, gay, and working towards minimalism. How funny that I don’t feel “alternative,” either.
Fran! A fellow family member, how lovely. Here in Cape Town they call our ilk lentil lesbians. Ha ha ha.
Awwww, thank you for calling me a “family member,” that’s so lovely, Ang!
I laughed a little too loudly when I read “lentil lesbians”! I’ve been telling people for years, “I’ve almost reached the Lesbian Trifecta: I’m gay, I’m vegan, now all I need is a cat!”
I cleaned out a hoarded condo. I have very little and plan to have less. I just read that the trend to McMansions has ended. It’s about time.
Hi Tina
It would be great if that trend started declining here too, yet even now along the beachfront and up in the ‘burbs we’re seeing ginormous houses and apartment blocks being built. Sadly, they’ll be inhabited by 2-4 people max and a lot of them will sit empty for months at a time as they’re owned by overseas folks who want, you know, a little holiday place for the summer. It’s nuts!
Kudos for cleaning out the cluttered condo. Way to go! I’ll bet you’ve been feeling on top of the world ever since you got rid of everything. :)
Terrific TedxTalk! You have a very sweet voice, too. : )
Ha ha ha thanks Kathie, I’m glad you enjoyed the talk! :)
Time is more valuable than possessions.
Amen to that J.S. :)
Thanks for sharing your story Ang! I discovered your TedX talk near the beginning of my minimalist journey about two years ago and it’s one of my favourites for inspiration and I’ve watched it many times. Nice to have an update and more info’ about how you’re living minimally here! Thanks again!
Hi Debbie
Sorry for the delayed response, I’ve been offline for a bit with flu.
I’m so happy my TEDx talk served as a source of inspiration for you! I love hearing that, it makes all the work so worthwhile.
We’re actually moving again tomorrow and this one’s going be interesting. Sort of.
Keep an eye out on our blog for an update. :)
We are attempting to downsize and it is overwhelming!
Hi Kay,
Whoops, this response is a tad overdue. Sorry about that! If you see this (holding thumbs), we posted something on the topic of decluttering overwhelm just last week. Maybe you’ll find it helpful: http://www.angelagayehorn.com/minimalism/how-to-declutter/
Ang :)
Great story! I started my own minimalist journey some months back and I feel fabulous with all the decluttering I’ve been doing. I am vegan for the animals, first and foremost, but it’s great to know that being vegan is also the best decision from a sustainability and environmental standpoint too. Cowspiracy was an eye-opener for me. I still have a lot of decluttering to do but I’m getting there. I’m doing a 30 day Simplify Your Life challenge which is already a big help. Thanks for the inspiration, Ang. I”m going to check out your blog now.
Hi Serena
Apologies to you as well for my tardy response (although we have since connected over at Mostly Mindful). Cowspiracy was a huge eye-opener for us as well! I’m glad that I’ve inspired you!
Cheers,
Ang :)
I help other people get rid of stuff. I’ve been helping a local museum sort through a basement full of art supplies. I can’t understand why people store things in garbage bags. If you want to keep a dozen egg cartons or toilet paper rolls, put them in a box, then you can stack them on a shelf. I keep tiny buttons in tiny metal mint boxes. Rolls of ribbon are in metal cookie tins. They look pretty and are good for small amounts. I needed small pieces of cardboard so I store them in an empty cracker tin. All the other cardboard got recycled. No mess. And everything fits in one place.
A friend gave me some rectangular plastic jars. Ribbon is in one, yarn in another, corks are in jar three. All the full skeins of yarn were given to the food pantry or local schools. I went through all my paints and brushes and gave away most of my paints. I kept four tubes. I was given several necklaces and most of the beads are going to a woman who donates her bracelets to charity. I gave more cookie tins away and kept only one.