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The Origin Story...

Discard, donate, or sell the number of items that corresponds to the day of the month. Straightforward and an enlightening take on decluttering life. This is not my concept. It is that of Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus; collectively The Minimalists (game instructions).

I was ready. I was willing. And for the sake of my marriage, so was my wife. ☺

So our journey began...

Quickly and effortlessly, we surged through multiple areas in our home. In short order, we were in places we don’t frequently access (guest closets, linen cupboards, etc.) and then moved onto our main living areas. Throughout, interesting questions arose, like “do we need 2 pizza cutters?” or “how many winter coats do we need?” (we live in MN).

But then you move past easy.

And here is where the game gets interesting.

You start looking deeper at yourself and your possessions. A genuine end-point on the road less traveled in America. In all sincerity, we did not believe we had a lot of stuff. We are not collectors, savers, or hobbyists. But somehow, unbeknownst to the conscious self, things accumulated. Speaking only for myself, books and CD's were the BIG obstacles. Both of these entities I felt somehow represented me; capturing who I was/am and communicating it outward. I've been downsizing my book collection for a few years (thank you, public libraries). But then I took a pass at the collection, and then another one. I kept removing books. Books I sincerely enjoyed were just amusing when really thought about. Books I thought I would read that sit dormant. The ‘one-day’ aspirational hope is a myth; interests change, I've changed.

CD's are my Achilles heel. The collection is years in the making. But the years of building came when digital music options were not plentiful. And after several challenges to my beliefs, I concluded that while music will always provide endless joy for me, the physical form it is in will not. I can trust the acceleration of digitization.

We are done with the easy questions and onto the hard...like is this suburban square footage necessary?... I don’t know where the journey will take us. But we are having the essential conversations.

Simplify.

This is our goal. But, it is a concept that bears infinite outcomes. 1,038 distractions are removed.

Momentum is building...