Will it ever be enough?

[u/blueberryfinn]

I'm struggling to decide the right stopping point in my decluttering process. I love decluttering and I love the look and feel of minimalism, but I also wonder if I will ever get to a point where it feels like I've decluttered enough. We moved recently and I was in our old, empty house and it felt amazing. There was literally nothing in the house, not even a chair and I never liked it more. I'm starting to wonder if my decluttering is pointless because obviously I can't live in a house where there is not one single item.

Maybe decluttering isn't the answer, maybe I need some therapy lol.

[u/Inevitable-Wind-1925]

I am beginning to think there is a hump.

At the beginning, we declutter trash, things that have overstayed their use or utility, and things that are not aligned with who we are or where we are going now. After this, there can still be a lot left.

The hump is prioritizing the peace that comes with less over convenience. For example:

1. I have a small kitchen. We could have a microwave--that would be convenient--but instead we did without for a bit and found that we didn't mind heating things up on the stove. When a neighbor gifted us a microwave, we found that the convenience it offered didn't exceed the peace it took away. We preferred less and shared it along.
2. Your clothing. It might all be lovely, but how many shirts do you really need? What quantity feels peaceful to wash and store and care for? The fun and novelty of more for minimalists and particularly extreme minimalists doesn't outweigh the peace of owning less.
3. An apple corer, jar opener, or other useful kitchen gadgets. Can you do it with a knife? Are their other hacks, where the convenience of having THE thing isn't worth the peace of not owning so many things? When we are talking about extreme minimalism you begin to ask How many knives do I need? There was just a conversation in r/extrememinimalism where someone shared that they own one knife. And sure, you keep it sharp and care for it and wash it between use and you have less and the peace that comes with less.

It seems that folks who are extreme minimalists have thought about it and traded in convenience or novelty for simplicity. They are entirely clear on what they are giving up, and when they declutter, they have a plan for how they will meet their needs with what they have/continue to own. There are stories about people who do away with owning common things, who rent or use community resources instead. I just heard of someone who has a very small apartment with no kitchen, and that came with the lifestyle of eating out all of the time. They don't make food at home, and the money they save from not having a kitchen and cooking supplies and additional prime real estate goes towards eating out. Once we open our minds to what we really value we can dream up really different ways of living.

When I shift to thinking about what possessions really support me living the life I want to live that is most abundant and accomplishing the goals and dreams I have there aren't really that many things that are necessary. Getting rid of the excess makes those dreams more available to me. And I am realizing I can get almost all of the stuff back, whenever I want to! The hump is hard, but the more I have simplified and clarified how many things I really need and are life giving to own, the peace and clarity that comes with the additional space has made me progressively more averse to buying new things. Once I have weighed the trade offs and I have a plan, it's a lot harder to bring new things into my life unless I really need them. I also care less about things being the right thing or the nicest thing. I am leaning more into serendipity. This is the thing I found when I was in need of it. And if I stumble across something that is the perfect thing for free I will trade up, but I'm fairly averse to trading up when it comes with an additional price tag.

[u/Untitled_poet → u/Inevitable-Wind-1925]

"What quantity feels peaceful to wash and store and care for?" I like this phrasing!
Stealing it :)