Minimalism, Hoarding, and Excess

I’m not naturally a minimalist but the concept of controlling excess is not novel although minimalism has made it trendy. The concept was partially practiced in our family. My mom tried to keep our toys in control, we weren’t given allowances, we usually only shopped for clothes seasonally on an as needed basis. I had clothes as a 20 year old that my parents bought me as a young teenager. But we also were sentimental and as homeschoolers, we had a lot of books even though we used the library regularly.

As as teenager and young adult, I had a problem keeping my room clean; to the point my mom would occasionally point out that it was a fire hazard. I would systematically reorganize and rearrange my room, but it was physically and emotionally exhausting, and I hardly got rid of anything and kept buying more, and so of course I could not keep it neat. Over the last year or so, every time I’ve reorganized this I’ve gotten rid of stuff. I also not been able to buy as much.

Minimalism and hoarding are parts of an continuum (I’m a little obsessed with continuums, especially since people construct false dichotomies with issues that are actually on continuums). Hoarding is at one extreme and asceticism at the other. I dislike extremes in grey areas (its a GREY area for crying out loud). Find what works for you and cut everything else out. I have a lot of things I want to minimize both physical and electronic.

I want to track my spending this year like I read about here although I’m not going to institute any ban. My major areas of stuff are arts and crafts, clothing, books, “for the future” and decor, and beauty. I need to constantly monitor everything because although I’ve cut down considerably, I need to always comb through to make certain everything is still relevant to my wants and needs, to ensure I’m using up perishables and art and craft supplies or throwing away broken or worn items, and to make sure I’m not rebuilding my hoard.