I’m deviating a bit from my normal post in order to bring this life update/book review. It feels like I left here on a slight dark note. Much has happened since then and you, my faithful readers (despite my inconsistent posting), deserve to share in the goodness.
Last time we met here, I was pondering whether it was a good idea to have given up my debt-free life, quitting my job of 18 years and traipsing off to code school to pick up some new skills. (As an aside, having simultaneous mid-life, existential, and identity crises is not recommended.) I was unemployed and afraid I was going to have to dust off my grocery bagging skills. Not having a purpose for getting up in the morning wasn’t working out for me, though my 25-year-old cat was loving it.
It’s 10 months later, and while it’s been a rollercoaster to get here, things are good. My old man kitty saw his last days in October, but I have a super-cool new kitty. I moved to Panama City Beach and am working as a web developer with a group of really amazing folks in the Midwest. I work from home which, for now, is a 2 bedroom apartment near the beach.
For months, I have been driving to Tallahassee and back over the course of many weekends to move stuff out of my house there, as I only had 4 days to move and start my job here. I never realized how much stuff I had. It was like a clown car, every trip I thought was the last and it just seemed to be multiplying. It felt like “stuff” was causing a lot of discourse in my life. I’ve always been told, “You’d better hang on to that, you might need it later.” Not only does this turn into physical clutter, but digital, mental and even emotional clutter. This seemed like the perfect time to change all of that.
As I’m moving possessions, I’m going through every single thing I own. Some things I keep, some I give away, and a good bit get recycled or trashed. I’ve had to ask a lot of tough questions about why I have things, if I can I live without them and still retain the memories they represent. Even things as simple as unsubscribing to emails that I wasn’t even reading, has saved time in my day that I can spend doing something I like.
On Twitter, I follow a lovely gal named Fay Wolf who is a professional organizer in LA and has written an equally lovely book called New Order: A Decluttering Handbook for Creative Folks (and Everyone Else). What I love about her book is that it doesn’t depend on perfection. You don’t have to buy hundreds of dollars worth of containers and organizing tools. You don’t have to spend an hour cleaning every day so that your house is spotless and clutter-free at the end of each day. Using her advice, you cannot fail. All it requires is to be better, using the resources you have, and organizing things in a way that makes sense for you. She doesn’t just speak about physical clutter, she gets that life clutter is just as important. Bottom line, if you are looking to lighten your load, physically or otherwise, you should check it out.
A little side note here, decluttering has allowed me to better manage my time. As a result, I’ve had more time to read. At any given time, I can typically be found reading one or two fiction books, something non-fiction (currently reading The Payoff Principle: Getting What You Want Out of Life and Work), and National Geographic.
I have an ultimate goal of being able to downsize to the point of being able to move into a tiny house. I love the financial freedom that would allow, along with the possibility of being more mobile and knowing exactly where everything is. I even love the stories that are often behind others’ decisions to go tiny.
So, faithful readers, I’ll try not to stay away so long next time. I promise not to downsize my human interaction, you all are my lifeline. And I’ll try to bring a funny story, next time. With any luck, maybe I’ll be doing it all from the front porch of my new tiny house.