I don’t know that I’ve ever been ready to welcome a year more than this year. Can you agree? My 10 day quarantine literally ended on the last day of the year. We’d been in quarantine since December 12, totaling how long it’s taken the virus to run through the whole family. We’re doing well and are very blessed, but 2020 sucked. It’s hard for me to say it because I’m a bright-side, enthusiast, type 7.
While I’ve been grossly negligent of many things this year, I did learned my Enneagram Type. Turns out I could be proned to hoarding. I’m the type to enjoy All The Things. I’m project driven and I love to plan. I like to have options, all the options. I’m also an artist, stay-at-homeschooling-mom. I have lots of excuses to buy a lot of stuff. Plus, we moved into a new home 17 months ago, which means for the last 9 months of pandemic I’ve had more than ample time to focus on nesting in the new house. Another reason to buy.
And I’ve wondered over these past 9 months, “How has the pandemic changed the way we (collective we) see clutter? How has it changed our habits of consuming and decluttering?” I saw on the news that the real estate industry did quite well in 2020, despite the economic impact the pandemic had on our economy as a whole. Seems like there was a trend to buy bigger houses as we are all staying home more. Now we need homes with offices, gym space, and dedicated play rooms. Sounds logical, but I wonder if we’re at a bigger risk of hoarding clutter now more than ever.
It’s not hard to find a reason to buy stuff. I listed many of mine above, but if there is any good we’ll take away from the pandemic I hope it’s that we have learned to cherish our time. I know the days seemed incredibly long, but as that say, the years are short. One truth remains the same (stuff wise), “The more you own, the more TIME you’ll spend managing your stuff”. Let’s not let the gift of our time be taken by the wealth of our stuff.
Life Less Cluttered 