Pre-Covid, I think that many were ready to let go of unnecessary home decor items and furnishings. This was influenced largely by the demand for homes with open floor plans. No doubt, these homes are beautiful and feel bright and airy with open shelving, large windows and limited wall space. However, with everything so highly visible, I think that lack of storage has become a problem. It was a nice thought and effort but during the pandemic, I think many of us fell back off the horse. We have picked up old hobbies and activities in an effort to stay sane. Along with hobbies, comes paraphernalia. Along with knitting, come skeins of yarn. Along with painting come paint supplies. Along with collecting…..come collections. You get my drift.
With hobbies, we distract our brains from thinking so much about unpleasantries. We can turn off the news or the internet and find something creative or positive to do instead with our time. We look to pastimes as a solace from all the troubles in the world. It is a comfort to surround ourselves with created projects or displays, whatever they may be. We want to make our spaces pleasing and eye-catching. This is a healthy diversion yet the problem is we can fall back into hoarding.
Look around at all the numbers of storage units. It seems like new ones pop up somewhere in my town every day. While we were downsizing before the pandemic, we rented a storage unit for a transitional spot to stash things until we figured out what we were going to keep and what we were going to get rid of. I sold off some things at two neighborhood yard sales and on Facebook Marketplace. I also rented out a space in a vendor market for large furnishings or nicer items.
When our house was finally built, and we moved in we could finally figure out what could fit and where. It was apparent that we needed much less furniture. To reduce the amount of clutter, I kept purging and paring down my stuff. Now, after three years of living in our home, I finally feel I have a manageable pile of things. I want to keep going and keep the decluttering mindset. One way is to stop shopping in thrift stores and become a donor only.
I still enjoy crafting but am trying to force myself to shop my house and use what I already have. I still like to collect things but am focusing more now on items that are made out of paper and can be stored in a stack or placed in a notebook sleeve to take up much less room. This is much easier on the budget, for sure.
I am reminded of the song Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. The last line says, “and the things of this earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace”. There is freedom in letting things go. God doesn’t want us to cling too tightly to the things of this earth. They are temporary but…. He is eternal!
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