So, Jessica and I spent most of our time yesterday packing up our belongings. I joked that it seems like we have given away more things than we have actually packed up. And the honest thing is that it feels great to give away so much stuff, because we DO NOT NEED all of this stuff. In 10 days we are moving into a house that is roughly the same square footage as our current home. But our current home has a lot of storage space, while our new house (like most homes built in the 1920s) has virtually no storage space, save a small basement and outdoor shed. So over the last month we have given away: two dressers, a pullout couch, one entire carload of old books, a computer desk, two outdoor slides, 5 car loads of toys that the boys have outgrown, so many clothes that I can not begin to count, etc. (This list is only a sample, and should be seen as comprehensive:)
And after emptying out so much of the above - guess what we have missed? Nothing. Nada. Rien.
As previously noted, Jessica and I are both reading Organized Simplicity. While reading last night, I came across this staggering statistic: The average American home in 1950 was 983 square feet and, according to Census data, the average American household size was 3.37 people. In 2010, the average square feet was 2135, and the average American household had shrunk to 2.59 (and now typically has more televisions than people in each home). Wow.
So While enjoying the best barbecue, collards, cornbread, mac n cheese, and grits I have had in 6 months at the great 12 Bones by the river, Jessica and I discussed these statistics at length. I think I speak for both of us when I say that we have been on the hamster wheel for a few years (to be fair, we have been sleep deprived, and enjoying a pointed focus on raising our children). And that it sometimes led us to lead distracted lives, and at times we failed to ask the questions that we should have been asking, like: why do we need to fill up our basement with three tables that we have never used? Why do our children have over 40 stuffed animals, most of whom they do not even know that they own? Why do we need a master bedroom that is larger than our 
living room?
living room? So now we are asking those questions. And the answer is: We do not need hardly anything at all (except maybe another plate of barbecue for 12 Bones!). Now I am not attempting to romanticize the 1950s, as I do not think that the American public was perfect in 1950, nor do I believe that smaller homes necessarily lead to happier families. But for the record, a new average home in the United Kingdom is 815 square feet, which is almost a third of the size of an American house - and it is not like the British are all falling a part because of it. If form follows function, then we want to be in a living space that puts us in closer proximity to our family. I want the children to to be in my space. That is why I had children in the first place, ya know? And though I realize that I sound like a broken record - we have made an intentional decision to pair down, and simplify - and it feels great.
Are there things/habits/stuff that you have gotten rid of that made you happier?
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