When we bought our current apartment, it was still under construction and more than a year before we could move in. We both had visions of a quiet, clean and peaceful place with less stuff where we could follow our passions. Last month we finally moved. It has been a very busy year, but we made our dream come true. We would like to share our journey with you. Let’s rewind.
Soon after we bought the apartment we quickly realized that moving all of our possessions would be tedious work and by bringing them all along with us, we would not be able to create our space the way we wanted it. All those furniture we acquired over the years, all that stuff, it just didn’t fit in our vision. So we started, early on, to pack up things that we knew we wouldn’t need anymore and gave them all away. Here’s what we did over the course of the year.
- We sold a bunch of our stuff on a flea market
- We gave a lot of nice items away for free, mostly to family, friends and neighbours
- We donated piles of possessions to the local charity organization
- We threw numerous bags of clothes in the nearby clothing collection box
- We donated some items to needing refugees in our town
- We posted bulky items on an online auction platform for sale
- We made regular visits to the local recycling and waste center with our junk
- We sold some of the kids clothes and toys on an exchange fare
- We contributed some more toys to a local public playhouse
- We passed on some furniture to the next tenant of the old apartment
Before we moved, we had shed about 80% of all our possessions. We only kept what we truly valued or needed. We stopped buying any new possessions. We told our familiy and friends to stop buying us gifts. People around us started to think we were crazy, especially after we got rid of our couch. But since we were about to move soon, they accepted it, assuming we would replace them. And then, amidst all that craziness and cumbersome work of shedding our stuff, something truly wonderful happened.
We got rid of our TVs and tablets.
We stopped watching movies and shows.
We started talking, reading, writing and making music.
We got rid of most our clothes and accessories.
We stopped caring for fashion.
We found gratitude in the clothes we had.
We got rid of our dining table and couch.
We stopped sitting and resting at any possible chance.
We found more time for doing what we loved.
We got rid of kitchen tools, junk food and meat.
We stopped cooking fancy dishes and luxury meals.
We found natural foods, veganism and health.
We got rid of so many things.
We stopped fulfilling every arising desire.
We found ourselves.
