Keep it Simple Sister

I got hooked on the new show "9 by Design". They make my children's name choices seem normal!  No, really I think they are hilarious.  I have seen them move twice now and I noticed something about each move.  They don't pack till the day of -  it seems like, anyway.  They move out quickly and get settled even quicker.  I am sure show editing really cut down on the time it seemed like it took, but if you look around their homes, they aren't cluttered.  They are open and organized.  There isn't stuff falling off of every shelf nor do they have stacks of crap on every counter.  Moving quickly is the result of not having a ton of stuff.  Imagine how nice it would be to move and not dread it.  To be able to move and get settled in right away like you had lived there your whole life.  Even if you aren't moving, imagine having less to clean, less messes and to able to find something when you need it.  Purging is the best way to do that.

When we moved 18 months ago I had gotten rid of most of everything we didn't NEED.  We sold off everything we could, but we had stuff we could not get rid of.  We are a big family so we require a lot of stuff.  10 chairs, 9 beds, tons of dishes and bedding, and we homeschool so we have a lot of books.  Still, we were able to move all of our stuff in 2 trips with a "moving" truck.  It wasn't really a moving truck but we used it for that purpose.  I had also been taking boxes over all week before hand with our dishes and other small items.  But regardless, it was the smoothest move I have ever had.  Even when It was just the 3 of us, this was the easiest move.   Yet, as easy as it was when I watch the family on 9 by Design move we pale in comparison.

I get a lot of questions about how we do it, I get asked for advice and I think the biggest suggestion I could make regarding sanity and cleaning is: GET RID OF STUFF.  Keep it Simple Sister.  The less you have, the less you have to clean.  Its simple.  Watch 9 by Design, look at how nice their house looks.  Notice how easy their moves are and convince yourself to get rid of stuff.

As for me, we are having a garage sale in the morning to get rid of stuff.  I have no idea how it happens but stuff breeds.  Suddenly we can't use our garage because people keep giving us stuff.  Now its time to purge and conquer my garage once again.