Messiness and Simplicity...

I have really learned a lot:  living in the van and having so little space, being at my mom's, where I really saw how meticulous she was about neatness (I am pretty sure she was OCD), and then living at Casa de Monica's.

Things that create messiness, as I see it:

Children
Pets
Plants
Hobbies
Belongings

Your children you can't get rid of... but when they have grown and move out, it is time to pare down to what you only need for yourself and a minor number of persons who may come to visit.  No longer do I need blankets and pillows for the 10 teenagers I found at my house during fair one year when my sons weren't even home!  A few extra blankets, a "bring your own pillow" policy, and it's good!  More visitors than that?  Let them get a motel room!

Pets should be kept to a minimum.  More than two cats is too many other little lives entwined in mine.  As it is, they have altered my life tremendously because if I knew I didn't have to put them in quarantine for several months, I probably would have already moved to Hawaii by now!  I love them, and couldn't possibly give them up, but the trick is not to accumulate more of them.  People who are overrun with several large dogs... expect chaos and messiness.  Turn off the heart strings.

Plants.  I know too many older people who really can't take care of indoor plants but insist you water them all when you stop by for a visit.  They are usually scraggly looking and do not at all adorn the scenic beauty of the living room, dining room, TV room or bedroom.  Get rid of them.  All of them. Stick them in the backyard and let them die a natural death.

What I don't have in plants, I make up in hobbies.  I have inherited fairly creative genes, and I love all sorts of arts and crafts, seeing great potential in every scrap of material, paper, can, paper toilet roll, and do-dad imaginable!  I have given up a lot of my needle crafts, but still hold onto the tools.  I have a whole box of leather tools and scraps and paints including a marble work mat (in storage) and someday....  Mostly I want to concentrate on scrapbooking now.  I just want to make pretty pages for albums that chronicle my life.  I am not into making flowery jazz to sit on a counter, or pretty cards that other people will throw away.  I also have a sewing machine.  It could come in handy, but it also comes with a whole bucket of items to go with it: pins, threads, etc.  Then there are materials and patterns.  I could fill an entire warehouse with craft stuff.

I truly think I could pare down to one set of clothing and my toothbrush, but still need an entire garage for my craft things.  Creativity is a burden, for sure!

As far as everyday things... I am messy because I have too many items.  My life does not need so many things in it.  I actually need very few things as I have found out these last few months. I need to weed through what I have and get rid of what I really don't use, or don't find precious to me.

A person does not have to take this minimalism approach to the extreme, so logical application should ensue. Easier said than done, but it is the road I need to travel and I know I am on the way.

:)