Everyone needs a little room to breathe. There is something about Simply Living that allows the heart to inhale fresh, life-affirming air. Life just feels fresh, unencumbered and peaceful.
How to Achieve Room to Breathe
One way I have found to sabotage this breathing space is to live among clutter. We live in a society where our wants dictate our spending habits. We bring home unnecessary items that we ‘can’t live without’, and mingle them with those precious things that have been handed down from generation to generation. Before long, our homes are so cluttered there is no longer room for the people.
Clutter is more noticeable to me, as I have a tendency towards claustrophobia. Lately, my home has gotten too tight for me to live comfortably. So I am throwing down the gauntlet, and will be doing some serious fall cleaning. You may hear wailing coming from this direction, but I plan on being ruthless towards what stays and what goes.
One thing to remember about the things you have sitting around your home – the more you have, the more time you spend dusting or washing. I have a prized collection of enamelware that sits on a vintage shoe rack in my kitchen. At least once a month, if not more often, I find that I am having to unload the rack and wash every item on it.
The rods that held the shoes for drying are covered with a sheet of glass. Since the rack sits next to the stove, cooking splatters stick to it, and the glass has to be thoroughly cleaned. By the time I am finished with just that one section of the kitchen, an hour has gone by. An hour I could have been doing so many other things. And that is only one small section of my entire house.
The Bane of Housekeeping
Quite frankly, I am tired of spending so much time in my house cleaning. Living on a farm generates more than its average share of dust and dirt. I can scrape my shoes off before coming in the house, but the dust clings to every part of my body. As you walk through the house to the shower, the dust sluffs off and lands everywhere. By the end of the day, it is difficult to tell that the house has just been cleaned. Add four dogs to that equation, and you can just imagine where most of my hours are spent.
The less clutter I have, the less I have to clean. The less I have to clean, the more room I have to move around. The more room I have to move, the fresher, less encumbered and more peaceful my life becomes. And my heart is able to breathe again.
If you have already done uncluttered your home, please comment below and share your own tips, as well as how it has worked out for you. We all need a helping hand from time to time!
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Be sure to stop by Amber’s at The Farmer’s Lamp for some great Homestead Household Tips!
