Recently I heard Felice Cohen on a podcast about minimalism and simple living. I was so impressed with her intentional way of living, that I arranged for her be a guest on the Solo podcast and I ordered her book, 90 Lessons For Living Large In 90 Square Feet from my library. The podcast episode hasn’t aired yet, but I finished reading her book today. In her book she writes about how she helped different people reorganize/downsize their offices and homes together get rid of excess stuff.
Felice is a natural organizer and minimalist as am I. Some of her lessons were techniques I already use or apply to problems I will never have. But one thing she wrote really stuck with me. When she is asked, “How much xxx is too much?” (fill in the blank for xxx with clothes, shoes, tools, toys, books or any other item you have many of), her answer is,
“Too Much Is Too Much”
That, is the perfect answer. Too much for me is likely much different than too much for you.
Too much for me 20 years ago was 20x what I own today. Ten years ago, it was 10x. Even after my major life reset 5 years ago when I settled into my current home, too much was different than it is for me today.
But, she got me thinking about my current situation. After completing 6 rounds of purging, I think I’m close to being finished.
And then, I pushed a dozen empty hangers that are constantly in the way in my closet off to the side. I’ve probably done this 1000 times in the last 4 years without thinking about it at all. Today I realized – I don’t need these hangers. I used them my first year here when I hung all my shirts. But for the past 4 years, I fold my shirts and store them on a shelf. I have used a few extra hangers on the rarest occasions when I can’t hang my laundry outside due to rain (which was maybe 3 times in 3 years). I immediately thought to get rid of the hangers but since Spring is around the corner and is our rainy season, I moved them into my spare bedroom closet. If I don’t use them this Spring – they are gone.
I’ve got a beautiful heather blue Columbia fleece vest in my closet that I purchased last year. It fits perfectly and looks great. I have worn it twice. I am going to force myself to wear it when we get our next cold snap and then make a decision to either use it or lose it.
I’ve got two pairs of pants that I bought last year which I kind of like but kind of don’t. I’m wearing them in my clothes rotation so I’m not ready to get rid of them yet but I will if I decide I don’t like them enough.
I am thriving in an emptier house, with emptier closets, drawers and shelves. It feels right to me.
It is not too much.
