Living With Less

One thing living half-moved in to a house has taught me is that I CAN live with less.  One area I have noticed this so far is linens.  How many towels, washcloths, blankets, sheets and pillowcases does a couple actually need?  Not as many as we have, obviously, because several of our towels are still out in our garage wrapped around framed photographs and have been for almost 2 months now.  And still we manage to dry ourselves off every day after our showers.  Most of our blankets we never use--not even in winter.  Why do we have so many?  And I don't even know where the rest of our pillowcases are.  I know we have a couple dozen, mostly mine, but I only know where about 8 of them are!  We'll need even less when this pregnancy is over and I don't pad myself on all sides with pillows every night.

Clothes is another area I've noticed I can live with less in, although partly that's because I don't really care how I look right now.  What 9-months-pregnant woman does?  What is fascinating, though, is that I am way more apt to throw my clothes in the hamper when they start smelling...less than prime...than I was when I had so many shirts to choose from.  I think it's because I realize I have fewer options once things do get dirty.  With my other clothes, I was like, "Oh, this probably needs a wash.  Oh well.  I have 2 dozen other shirts to choose from."  And I'd throw the shirt back into the drawer.  And now when the clothes are IN the hamper, I'm of course more likely to get the laundry done, because, good grief, I only have 3 shirts left!  So it's been very interesting seeing how having less in general affects how I live day to day.  It's a good change.  I hope I can hang onto it and use it to motivate me to thin out my non-maternity clothes.

I can do a similar thinning out of the baby stuff I've received.  I know they dirty things up a lot more, but I really like this extra motivation to do the laundry when something is dirty and I want to incorporate it into every area of life.  I got so many crib sheets for my shower that I think I can at least start there.

I can't wait to apply this to other places.  Maybe there is hope for someone like me after all. :)

-Stephanie