Little is Much

Theres a really great song by the amazing band, Downhere, called Little Is Much. Buy it.

Its so true though. I was in my garage yesterday. I have a bin beside my door for shoes. I have another bin beside my laundry for rags and towels. Actually, I had bins in these two places.

The rule was: only shoes in the bin. No clothes in the towel bin.

But what do I find every time? Socks in the shoe bin and clothes in the towel bin. AH! So what did I do? I tossed the bins! Put in a NICE shelf for the shoes and said "throw the towels in the washing machine." Little is much. Little is more.

I've also done this in my kids rooms. It seemed that if there was a cranny to shove a piece of trash or soiled clothing.... they stashed it! SO I took it all out. They have a bed and a desk. No dresser. No book shelf. Clothes all get hung. They have organizational bins in their closet for school, art, and personal. Thats it. And its amazing how much cleaner a room can be with less stuff in it.

I've even read studies lately stating that with all our technology we are producing LESS. And that the more STUFF a person has around them, the higher their stress levels. I can't quote the studies... but I can say on a personal level that this seems so true. Before facebook my house was a lot more clean! Or, maybe that was before KIDS! They both kind of kicked off about the same time, so I'm not really sure who the culprit is! :)

Anyway, as we try to live on the excess of our nation and to support our friends as home-makers and local businesses... we are also finding that getting rid of stuff is so freeing.

Even my three year old gets it. His sister tried to give him a new cool bracelet. He checked it out, said it was "cool" and gave it back. She said, "no, its yours." He said, "I don't need it." She tried to convince him that it was still his but he was adamant: He didn't need it.

May I be as quick to get rid of the things I don't need and thus free myself of more stress and perhaps even become more productive! Lessons of a three-year-old.