Journal 2006

Here’s my philosophy on THINGS.

1. Simplicity or minimalism is better than clutter. Because it’s easier to clean around. Because I spend more time on what’s really important in life. Because it streamlines my work.
2. Things are to be used. If you’re not using them, why keep them?
3. We get emotionally attached to things. Childhood bonds to things may be the strongest. (e.g. my Funny Monkey). What’s important to me may not be important to you because we don’t have the same bonds.
4. It’s easy for me to throw away what I’m not attached to.
5. Things are temporal, of the earth. They bind us, tie us up, hang us—unless we can let them go.
6. There can be too much of a good thing. There can also be too little.
7. I can think of no possession I have that I wouldn’t be willing to part with—except my journals, because they’re irreplaceable. But if having them gets in the way of my love for God and service to Him, then I’d gladly give them up. Even pictures, as precious and irreplaceable as they may be, what’s in the heart is what counts in life. I’d prefer to not be tested in this, though. But God knows my heart.

A 2025 Update. I’ll never get my husband to read The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning – How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter by Margareta Magnusson. Living with a clutter-bug who feels more secure with his things crowded around him, I laughed when I saw this sign at the paint store. Apparently, my Swedish roots are showing.