On Accepting the Minimalist Challenge

The new buzzword these days seems to be “minimalism,” which is basically the concept of living with less. At first, I wasn’t sure how I would feel about becoming a “minimalist.”  But then my husband and I watched a documentary about minimalism and were totally captivated. We were in the midst of trying to decide whether or not to sell our house and started thinking about all of the stuff we have accumulated while living here for the past 15 years and wondered how we would fit it all in a much smaller house.  Shortly after that, I saw something on Instagram called the “Minimalist Challenge.” So for the month of October, we both decided to take on the challenge to see if we could make a dent in this vast accumulation of stuff that we can’t seem to live without. The challenge is that for each day of the month, you throw away, recycle, sell, or donate that number of things. For example, on October 15, we would each throw away, recycle, sell or donate 15 things. It was a little bit difficult on those first days.

October 1^st: One item from the junk drawer

October 2^nd: Two things from the junk drawer

October 5^th: Five things from the junk drawer

But as the dates got higher, it got easier.

October 9^th: 9 different unused kitchen gadgets

October 15^th: 15 canning jars of various sizes and shapes

October 26^th: Way more than 26 interlocking floor tiles from the basement family room.

Obviously, we couldn’t exactly follow the challenge because some days we got very carried away, throwing, selling, recycling, or donating hundreds of things, like the day Tom got rid of a 5 gallon bucket of assorted screws & nails.  And on the day I cleaned out my closet, 3 large bags full of clothes went to either the dumpster, Threadup, or Good Will. Far more than the 12 things that should have gone on October 12^th. There was also the day I cleaned out the plastic storage container drawer. There isn’t a date that coincides with the number of random lid-less containers, and container-less lids I was able to recycle. And on the day I cleaned out my craft/sewing area I said goodbye to my scrapbooking hobby, my jewelry-making hobby, and my “yarn I’m never going to crochet into anything” collection.

At the end of the month, we could both say that the challenge was a success and we felt much lighter because of it. Unfortunately, I went a little crazy on closet clean-out day because I wound up replacing some key items of clothing that I really shouldn’t have parted with. I’m not sure if we would call ourselves minimalists now, but I think there is value in learning to appreciate a life with less. I’m thinking twice before pushing that yellow “Place Your Order” button these days, and it feels good.

What Women Do

My friend and I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a women’s retreat recently. I have been wanting to attend this particular retreat for years. The retreat was everything I had hoped for. It was fun, inspiring, and educational. All of those are important components to this “teacher-minded” individual. Although I’ve been to hundreds of conferences and trainings, I have never been to an event that was 99% women. The venue even re-named the men’s rooms to ladies rooms for this particular retreat. Being a woman, I know a lot about our gender, but there are certain womanly characteristics that I have never noticed until this particular weekend, being surrounded by hundreds of my sisters. My friend and I frequently commented on these idiosyncrasies as they repeatedly occurred over the course of the 2 days.

1.     Women take cuts.

From the time we boarded the ferry’s parking lot shuttle, to the time we were dropped off at our car, lady after lady unapologetically made her way in front of us saying things like, “Oh, my friends are up there, so we need to get by, ” or they’d say nothing at all. As an educator, this is particularly annoying because we just know that taking cuts is probably the worst etiquette rule you can break. That’s not to say that teachers don’t take cuts, we just apologize, explain, and justify our rude behavior. “I’m know I’m taking cuts and I’m so, so sorry! It’s inexcusable, but I really just had to run to the bathroom. Will you please let me back in with my friend here?” So you can understand my impatience.

2.     Women save seats.

As we were herded into the hotel dining room, my friend and I scoured the long tables for two seats. As we looked left and right, we noticed seat after seat covered with napkins, name badges, and purses so that the seats could be saved for any number of absent friends. And what was again, somewhat surprisingly unapologetic. We were just met with head shaking and outstretched arms (so as to protect saved seats from two obviously ravenous women). My friend and I came up with a rule of our own. If you want to save seats, it can be no more than two, and for no more than 5 minutes. Or as we tell the kids on the playground, “Count to 100 and if your friends aren’t here yet, someone else gets to use that swing.”

Overall the event was wonderful. We definitely plan to do it again. The cuts-taking and seat-saving weren’t enough to ruin our time at this event. But next time we will be prepared to wait a little longer in line and we will definitely get to dinner early. And I can’t even promise that I won’t ever take cuts or save seats again. I am, after all, a woman too. And apparently, that’s just what we women do.