We recently packed up and moved from California to Texas using organizational guru Marie Kondo’s “spark joy” method, in which you touch each object you own, and if the item doesn’t spark joy in you, you part with it via donation or trash. My family learned that the vast majority of things filling our home did not resonate with us on a joyful level — and the process was life-changing.
On the destination end of our move, we had to put our belongings in storage for three months, and the day the movers pulled up to our new home in a giant truck containing all our “stuff,” we wished they just kept driving.
Knowing we’d be living solely with what we could fit into our cars, everyone in my family selected a few choice objects in addition to clothing to take on the journey. For my kids it was a couple keepsake stuffed animals, for my husband and me it was logistical paperwork, irreplaceable and priceless items like his grandmother’s locket necklace and practical items like my laptop. As a plant lady, I fit as many plants as I could possibly stash on the floorboards as well. It was extraordinarily liberating to realize that anything we felt we needed to survive fit into the trunks of our cars.
We felt free, as both the literal and mental burden of being weighed down by belongings was lifted off all of us
Our clean slate and fresh start was instantly weighed down by our past
Complete overwhelm struck. It was the kind of experience that changes you at your core.
Even my kids have lost their longing to purchase unnecessary items that will be categorized as useless clutter in no time. When we started unpacking our boxes, they didn’t even want to keep many of the items that made the cut prior to our move. Having lived without it all for months forged my family’s collective desire to become minimalists.
Today, with the exception of clothing needs, we make consumable and experiential purchases only. The saying “less is more” now really hits home.
