Decluttering Our Lives

It started with the dining room table that we knew would be too big for our new apartment. Then it was my collection of about 150 DVDs, followed by the broken Xbox 360 and the gently-used Keurig coffee maker. By the time we were finished, Caitlin and I had sold, donated, or given away hundreds of dollars worth of electronics and clothes, and it had gotten to the point where we needed convincing that certain items should be kept instead of taken to the Salvation Army, instead of the other way around.

A few months ago, I read David Karp’s (founder of Tumblr) blog post called “Life Improvements”, in which he had outlined a number of different changes he had made to his life (presumably to be healthier and less stressed), including throwing unnecessary things away, going to bed earlier, and cooking more. While it wasn’t a direct inspiration per se, it helped to further confirm what we had been thinking about the past few weeks: our lives had become so cluttered with stuff that it often became difficult to discern what we really needed.

Possibly spurred by our new [small] studio apartment, or the million-miles-an-hour lifestyle of New York City, we’ve recently come up with the idea of trying to start living a simpler, cheaper, and hopefully, happier, life. A new mantra has emerged: Buy Less, Travel More. Neither of us are big shoppers, and we’ve always lived within our means, but do I really need that new pair of shoes to go with the 5-6 other pairs that I wear on a normal basis? Probably not.

What had originally come out of the need to get rid of some stuff that wouldn’t fit into our new apartment became an experiment - let’s try buying fewer things that we don’t really need, and save our money for a rainy day, or for a fun trip (we went to the Hampton’s a few weeks ago and had a blast). We’re both extremely fortunate to be getting paid to do what we love to do, but it can be hard enough living in New York City on our two salaries; let’s help ease the stresses by trying to save more by cutting out unnecessary expenses.

Maybe this could be a huge failure, but all I can say is that we’re pretty excited and inspired for what’s to come next. Updates to come!