I have too much stuff -- want some?

Christmas is great, I just spent one of the most wonderful week of the year with my family. Conversations, table games, great food and...stuff. I mean, literally -- stuff. New things, gifts, presents, too much food.

I think we have too much already.

I used to live in a very minimalist apartment in Kuala Lumpur - a coach and a table in the living room, a bed, a cupboard and a chest of drawers in the bedroom and some stuff in Maru's room (I even hid the toys in the boxes to not get distracted by them).

The reason wasn't that I'm such a minimalist person, it's was simply because it was a temporary home and I only invested into buying a carpet. But the effect was the same - it was a stress-free environment, calming by its lack of THINGS that get you distracted. So even though it was echoing in the living room and my friends used to ask me in Skype if I'm talking from a cave it taught me how less is better.

Now I'm back in Estonia and my parents house is full of things that it has collected over the past 30 years of existence. My room is full of things, the living room is swamped by chairs, coaches and shelves. My favorite place is the bathroom that was just renovated and is still relatively empty (yay!).

Things come to us so easily, but they tend not to leave. They just stick around and we get used to them, not noticing that they consume our energy. It's harder to focus on important things when your surroundings is full of information.

I was just reading one of my favorite blogs which is dedicated to simplifying your life. The posting talks about the True Cost of Stuff and brings out plenty of reasons why to reduce the amount of things to minimum.

Here are some costs of owning stuff from Leo Babauta of Zen Habits:

• It clutters our space, causing distractions and stress.
• We must constantly move it to get to other stuff, to clean, to organize, to paint walls or decorate or remodel.
• We must take it with us if we move, and often if we travel. That's a ton of trouble and costs.
• Often we pay for extra storage, outside in our yards or in storage facilities.
• If it breaks, we will often take it to be repaired.
• If we have kids or pets, we have to worry about it getting broken, or scold them for not being careful with it.
• If we get used to it, and it breaks, we'll replace it because we think we need it.
• If it gets old and crotchety, we have the headache of putting up with a less-than-functioning tool.
• If we have too much stuff, it weighs us down, emotionally.

Now I want to get rid of a lot of stuff and I just realized this can be as painful as finding new stuff. After all you're already emotionally connected with that and some part of you firmly believes you actually need it. But I'm determined to start my year with less, so wait for more updates on the same topic.

Bless you:)