My husband and I are musicians. And we’re parents. Our “backstage” experiences with our son (our little frog) deeply affect us and our music. Recent insights:
As some of you know, I’ve been gradually working through Marie Kondo’s home ‘sorting’ program. It’s a thorough approach of decluttering by category vs. room by room; so the purger is forced to confront, say, ALL her linens or ALL her papers, all at once. With possessions on comprehensive display, it’s easy to see the need to be ruthless.
I love the mandate: if a thing doesn’t ‘spark joy’ (even if it’s simple joy of the usefulness of an item), it’s out!
It takes time and effort to assemble each category. But so far, once I’ve tackled a category–edited and then decided how/where to keep my yes pile–the order and neatness has stuck, for me AND my family. It is clear for all of us to see where everything is supposed to go, so it’s easy to put things back after using them.
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I am enjoying more home order, less stuff to clean/put away. But above all, the biggest payoff is how I am using and enjoying the good stuff that remains. I’m really LISTENING to many of my favorite recordings. Inspired by my favorite books that line the bookshelves, I’m spending more time reading new recommendations.
And I loved my friend Rachel’s comment that she actually ENJOYS putting things away now.
Savoring my stuff is easier to do when I have less of it. A simple notion, of course. But it’s one I’ve practiced more lately. And cleaning up, like Rachel commented, is more satisfying when everything has a purposeful home. (Also, Kondo has good ideas about how to store things–I follow the vertical folding exCEPT for this lovely stack of quilts that looked better folded horizontally.)
Here’s to getting more out of life… with less.
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