Thursday, August 12, 2010

But Will It Make You Happy?

I can't find the cord for my camera - There's a lot to share from the last month, but without pictures, it's a bit boring.

A friend recommended a great article on Monday about happiness, money, and simplicity - Its called 'But Will It Make You Happy?'
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/business/08consume.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=general&src=me&adxnnlx=1281362407-CcBVGaicBZqwEVIrK9FjWQ

It came at a timely moment. Just the day before, I'd being feeling so claustrophic in our apartment. After a week in the wide-open spaces, tall trees, and quaint lake town of McCall Idaho, it was hard to come back to our tiny place. I measured it tonight - its less that 500 sq ft.

One theme of the article focused on simplifying and decluttering. I dont think I could abide by the '100 Thing Challenge' mentioned in the article--maybe I could, but I'm not sure how I could dress for work, church, running, and fun on such a limited wardrobe--but it is an intriguing concept.

So we started with the closet.

*** Imagine a large laundray basket heaped high with clothes and shoes spilling over ***

It feels better already. Waking up and being able to find just the shirt i want to run in without rummaging through the ones I don't like. Coming back from my run, rushing to get to work and being able to quickly decide what to wear since their are fewer options. And not feeling guilty about not wearing the clothes that need ironing, they aren't among my choices anymore.

Its hard to know what to do with it all - as I organized and folded everything, I was struck with the memories. T-shirts from races that I've run - paid for both in money and sweat. That pair of shoes that I wanted and waited 6 months to buy, but I just dont wear tennis shoes often enough to justify keeping a cool blue pair. A nice jacket from Ann Taylor that I spent a lot on and that I thought I would love wearing to work - maybe i wore it 3 times. And other work clothes that I used to wear so often, but dont need with the more relaxed dress code at my current job.

It seems hard to just give some of those memories away - and I doubt the running shirts will be lucrative or a fast moving item for the thrift store. I made a t-shirt quilt about 6 years ago. I'm questioning if I need another.

Any other ideas?

1 comment:

  1. Ha, ha! I was going to say a t-shirt quilt, but apparently you've already thought of that. I have a friend who took pictures (or made sure she already had pictures) of her favorite things that she needed to dump. Then she put them in a small photo album that she can look through when she wants to feel nostalgic. Maybe something like that? Good luck! :)

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