Is my house big enough to be minimal?

"There is more joy to be found in owning less than in organizing more." (Joshua Becker)

Over the last few weeks, I've been re-arranging in our apartment.

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 We accumulated a few more Christmas decorations this year to somehow fit on the top self of the closet in our den - alongside the box of cords/batteries/lightbulbs, Ike's tool box, the box of our spare drinking glasses, the iron, a box containing my wedding bouquet, two small aquariums that Ike had in highschool and some random pieces of wood we use in the summer to prop up our air-conditioning window unit. Not to mention the towering assortment of items in the rest of the closet.

We got a few wonderful books for Christmas that I have been trying to squeeze on the bookshelf in the living room. The books are now so tightly pressed that it takes a bit of effort to get one off the shelf.

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 And a few new kitchen items to find a place for. I love Christmas and it is so sweet to receive new gifts - we got such truly beautiful things! They bring a smile to my face remembering who has given them to us.

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But, I am finding myself with such a dilemma -  we own too much compared to the size of our apartment for it to feel as minimal as I desire!

 

(Photo from Reading my Tea Leaves. I wish our closets looked like this. simple, organized, almost empty.)

This is the reality of the closet in our den. :(  so embarrassing and far from what I wish it were, but still something I want to record as our reality.

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I catch myself thinking, "When we own a house and have more storage space, imagine how organized things will be!"

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 I picture opening closets with neatly ordered boxes or shoes all lined up - without haphazard stacking to the ceiling to make everything fit.

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I picture my dresses being able to hang to the ground without getting wrinkled (right now they are wadded up to make room for the suitcases and the air-conditioning window unit we are storing below them).

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And to have my pantry items all in one place, standing upright and able to be seen without digging through a stuffed cupboard.

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And to have more than two closets - imagining what it would be like to have a closet for all my cleaning supplies to be neatly organized in one place. And a closet for just our clothes and nothing else!

When I realized this thought - that I need a bigger house to feel more minimal, I felt so foolish that I laughed. Isn't that the opposite of minimalism? Isn't the point of minimalism to find contentment with little? Isn't it to live simply wherever you are?

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I don't necessarily want to sell/give away everything until my closets are empty enough to look as organized as I want - because there are many special and beautiful things that are meaningful and I want to continue to enjoy throughout our life.

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 But, I do want to be more ready to part with things that I am not using. If I don't love it, use it regularly or find it useful for our lives, I want to pass it on and be free of storing it! It is our home after all, and it is okay to only have things in it that we love/need. I want to be more willing to use up things (candles, pantry items) that I have the tendency to save or hold onto. And while shopping or considering buying new things, I want to be hesitant - remembering all the beautiful things we already have.

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Mostly, I want to be content. I don't want to view our tiny four room apartment as a barrier to a simpler, minimal life, but rather, the best place to start, the best way to learn.