Hope's Homestead: Getting Over the Hump...on the journey towards Minimalism

For the last two weeks I have been swimming through the muck and mire of our worldly possessions. Some days, I felt like I was drowning and other times, as I found my stroke, the waves parted and I could see the white shores of home. As I write this though, I'm finally over the hump and I wanted to share a part of the journey with you. .

The title of this blog came from my daughter, Grace, who along with my son Harrison, has been helping me de-cluttering over Spring Break. They helped me keep the fires burning, so I could climb the mountain of baby and childhood memorabilia. BOXES and boxes of them.

My idea originally, was that each child would have a Rubbermaid box with all their baby keepsakes. You know the outfit they came home the from hospital in, their first stuffed lovie, their favourite blanket, the outfit they wore as they had their first formal portrait, their first shoes, well, you get the picture.

Then there was another Rubbermaid box for their childhood memories. All their certificates, little trophies, awards, ribbons, their report cards, their school pictures. The older children had two full boxes since they are out of both phases now and even have graduation caps and gowns.

When we had just two and three children, the storage required for these boxes wasn't a big deal but with 8 children now, the boxes of memorabilia is a big deal. Also, and probably a bigger issue was when I went through my own memorabilia box and let go of everything recently, even my wedding dress. It was then, that I realized keeping our past in a box wasn't necessary.

The memories weren't in the box. They weren't in the things stored away. They were and always will be in my heart.

What kind of gift was I giving my children by keeping these things? Also, most of this were things they didn't even have a memory of themselves.

Keeping the things meant I had to find a place to store the items and then take the time occasionally to sift through the stuff or move it around. In my case, I can't even count how many times I have moved this stuff as we moved again and again over the years. It took time out of my life to pick it up, pack it away and then move it. Why was I moving around stuff from my past?

That brings me to "Humpty Dumpty."

Humpty Dumpty was given to my mother as a vase for some flowers she received after my birth.

It's OLD!

When I got married and we bought our first house my mom gave me Humpty Dumpty. She must have been relieved to say good bye to him. Ever since then, he has been in the vase cupboard in my kitchen. Have I ever used him? No! Does he bring joy to me when I look at him. Ummm, not really.

Part of the reason I kept him all these years was that my mother kept him for 20 something years and I can't even count how many household moves she experienced to keep him in the family and for some strange reason, I felt like I had to keep the tradition going as well.

As you may know, my mom passed away 3 years ago. When she left, I hung onto many things of her's and also memories from my childhood were really important to me. I think I have a glimpse into why other people may become hoarders...because they are in a state of grief and can't let go.

I'm happy to say that is not me. I smiled at Humpty one last time and took him out to the garage where he will go into a pile of things that others may see the value in. Old crap. He is after all a 1/2 century old and the glaze and paint on him are unique to that time. Maybe someone will love him. He is missing his gloved hand though. Still I have to give him a chance don't I? Another home...but if no one wants him after the garage sale, I won't have any problem saying good bye.

It's time. And with that, I'm over the "hump." As I realized this, I was telling Grace and Harrison that I had finally gotten over a really important step in the de-cluttering process and Grace looked at me holding Humpty and said, "Mom, you are over the hump!" We all had a good laugh. Maybe she should be writing my blog because I thought that was a good play on words and the perfect title for this blog post.

After that, I pulled up Will's old high chair from storage, which I had been saving for a someday grand baby. Along with that came the cute pack 'n play that we bought for the twin's early days home from the hospital.

And after that, I had the children who were home help me pick the things that were special to them and guess what?

None of them wanted their version of the Humpty Dumpty in their baby boxes. Whew!

Smart kids! I have been reading a lot about moving towards minimalism and it's not always an easy thing to do when you share a home with other people. What is recommended though is to inspire others by example. It hasn't taken long, as the kids and even my husband are on board, Well, okay, maybe not my University son, living at home, but hey, he's right in the middle of mid term exams etc and says he can't even think about the stuff around him. Fair enough. In the meantime, we are being good examples...and smiling.

After that other memorabilia really flew.

David let go of many of his trophies years ago but we had kept the ones that held the best memories.

This week we snapped a picture of him with the remaining trophies. (he used to play baseball and was also a championship skeet shooter in his late teens) Those memories and aspects of himself are not in the trophies, but inside himself. Also, I think when the kids saw him letting go of these physical recognition awards, they realized, we aren't those things. We are successful without accolades. Success and happiness are inside of each of us.

After the Humpty insight, I felt lighter and happier. Like how one feels after climbing an long and arduous climb and the view on the other side is breathtaking. If you hadn't endured the climb, you would have missed out on another amazing experience.

Here is a snap shot of one of the piles in our garage. You don't even want to see what is in our recycling and garbage pile!


Interestingly enough, this is a picture our University son, Clark took when he went for a hike this week. He didn't have time to de-clutter, but he is balanced enough to know that the hike is what life is really about. ...a shot above Kalamalka Lake