Living on less.

As an admitted pack-rat, I've probably spent at least one to two years of my 32-year-old life "gleaning", which is my family's word for "getting rid of shit". Every time I set in for the task, I would wonder "Didn't I just do this?!" and moan and groan throughout the process.

I was fortunate to get an advance copy of Simplify by Joshua Becker.

The book is encouraging and inspiring in many ways, but most importantly in the sense that "Living Minimal" does not have to look the same for everyone.  I really found chapter three "Jump Right In!" especially motivating, because I often get paralyzed when I think "where do I start?!" when taking on a new project.  I like the idea of starting with something on the smaller side and then moving on to the bigger things.  The "small victories" approach is really motivating.

A couple weeks ago, I went through my bathroom and got rid of some old, beat-up makeup bags, threw out some practically empty bottles, and committed to using up what I have before I'm allowed to buy anything new.  As far as body lotion goes, that might take a while, as I have no fewer than nine (9!) bottles of body lotion in varying sizes and scents. Ri-dic-u-lous!  I definitely didn't buy all those, I always seem to accumulate body lotions from my mom, events, etc.  But honestly...enough is enough!  I live in about a 600 square foot apartment, and about 10 square feet of that was taken up by body lotion (slight exaggeration, perhaps?)

Next up?  I plan to go through my CDs (I probably have about 75?) and whittle that down to about 25.  I have all my music on my computer (and backed up) but know that I will not be able to get rid of all of the CDs.  I intend to keep the CDs of my favorite artists, and you'd better believe it'd practically have to take an act of God to separate me from my personalized, autographed copy of Debbie Gibson's Greatest Hits.

If you are looking for a pretty quick but enlightening read, order a copy!  In keeping with the idea of living simple, it's an e-book, not a hard copy, so no need to make room on your bookshelf!