Number Game

If we play a numbers game with Minimalism we get:

assuming our house has the average 300,000 items and we want to get rid of 2/3rds of it- that is 200,000 items to purge.

and if I use kitchen sized white garbage bags, averaging 20 items per bag. That is 10,000 bags I have to purge.

If I do it at a rate of 10 bags/month (that means I actually had 1 day to clean, plus regular get rid of accumulations) that means I'd spend 1,000 months or 90 years to purge that much.

Wow, do Americans have a lot of stuff.

I've been reducing stuff in my house since I started Flylady.net in 2003. But a major cleanout came when I read Marie Kondo's book. I loved the "spark joy" aspect of it. It is easy to hold on to things because they can be useful, but when you hold or try on something that actually sparks joy- you get it. It's the feeling of loving how you feel with it. Once your wardrobe is 90% spark joy (and 10%, I need it and would have to replace it if I got rid of it) dressing is a happy thing every morning, now if we can just replicate that feeling with everything in the house.

And don't be afraid to get rid of the can opener that can't and replace it. Your life is too valuable to waste fighting with can't openers. :)