When Less is More: Choosing a Simpler Lifestyle

Part 2: Curate your life: keep the joy, release the rest.

“The greatest wealth is to live content with little.” — Plato

The trouble began with the Tupperware drawer. One evening, as we were cleaning up the dishes and putting food away, I kept pulling out containers, one after the other, searching for one that was large enough to hold the leftovers and a lid that actually fit. It took me forever (just humor me here. It probably took five minutes, but in that moment it felt like forever) to finally locate one I could use.

I can hear you, my cynical readers – what’s the big deal? Well, my husband and son will tell you what the big deal is: I have a short fuse. Yes, I admit I can be a bit short-tempered at times, especially when I’m already stressed because I’d had a terrible, no good, very bad day (thank you Judith Viorst for letting me borrow that awesome phrase), plus our very large puppy was watching that pot of leftovers as though it were a large, juicy steak.  

So when I couldn’t come across what I was looking for, I lost my temper. “Why do we have all this useless Tupperware?” I groused. “Do we have to save every chicken salad container from the deli and every single ice-cream bucket? Just for once, I’d like to be able to reach into the drawer and find what I need right away.”

My husband, bless his very patient heart, acted upon it. The next day, he pulled out all of our plastic containers and sorted them on the kitchen island. To my surprise, my husband who is a saver (we’ll address that topic next week) and has a hard time parting with anything, set aside a stack of mismatched containers—ones that had no lids and lids that had no containers—and discarded most of them into the recycling bin. The ones he could repurpose for his various projects were carried out to his workshop.

When I thanked him, he smiled. “You know,” he said, “that felt really good. I’m not sure how we accumulated so many empty containers, but it was a mess.” The very next day, he tossed a used plastic food tray into the recycling without hesitation. So, for you skeptics out there, miracles do still happen!

The lesson in all of this is that letting go of things—be they physical, financial, emotional, relational, or spiritual—can be challenging, especially when they’ve become entrenched into our daily habits. But in the end, we have to make a concerted effort to gain control over them rather than allowing them to gain control over us.

Consumerism is one of the biggest habits we, as a society, need to tame. With businesses making online shopping so easy and convenient, we can easily lose sight of important values such as practicing self-control, limiting our spending, nurturing thankfulness, and cultivating a spirit of gratitude and contentment for what we already possess.

As my husband and I slug through years of accumulation, we ask ourselves the following questions:

1. Have we used this in the last year?
2. Does it bring us joy?
3. Does it add value to our lives or can we live without it?
4. Do we have duplicates or a similar item that serves the same purpose?
5. Will it still matter in one year?
6. Would our lives be significantly impacted if we didn’t have this?

From there, select from three options:

1. Keep
2. Donate/Sell
3. Trash

A few tips for a happy home:

1. Avoid discarding things without talking through these decisions with your spouse or partner first. What you may view as clutter might hold sentimental value for him/her.
2. If you don’t agree, set it aside then return to it in a month or so. By then, one of you may have changed your mind.
3. If an object holds sentimental value but it doesn’t fit your current lifestyle, take a photo of it to preserve the memories without the holding on to the clutter.

Ultimately, pursuing joy and a simpler lifestyle typically yields greater satisfaction than the pursuit of more.

Join me next Wednesday as we delve into part 2 of “When Less is More: Choosing a Simpler Lifestyle” – Part 3: How to declutter when you’re married to a saver

Please feel free to add to the conversation in comments. I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.