MINIMALISM

I come from a family of hoarders. My stepdad is the worst. He keeps EVERYTHING. I used to be the same but recently I keep having the same compulsion to get rid of everything. The last time my Mam cleared out our shoe (and coat and tool and other crap) cupboard, I was there saying "bin it!" to absolutely everything. Also quite often I have to dust our sitting room and there are all sorts of little trinkets everywhere. Like paperweights. And empty vases. And a wine glass covered in glitter. I don't even know. They annoy me so much! Recently I've been watching more property programmes (I'm an unemployed student, shush) and they always buy stupid little trinket things to decorate. What is the point! They just collect dust! Oh man, it annoys me so much. I am having ZERO trinkets/ornaments/things in my house.

I will soon be packing to move to Spain and I feel like this is the perfect time to get rid of everything. I want the things I take to Spain to be the only things I own. Well apart from all my big winter stuff which I'll need for when I return to Norwich next year. I'm just sick of having stuff everywhere. Sick of tripping over boxes and having drawers full of paper from 2007 and wires belonging to phones which were discontinued long before the iPhone. 

We are so lucky to live in an age where all of your memories can be stored online. I don't need to take a photo album with me while I'm away because they're all on Facebook. I don't need to bring my DVD collection because most of them are on my hard drive too. I finally got around to buying a new Kindle so now I don't have to bring countless books with me. 

I used to live with my best pal Cameron and he very much lives a minimalist lifestyle. His bedroom last year didn't have any decoration save a pen pot, a bonsai tree which died within a week and some very colourful bed covers which I didn't like but he knows that. He has inspired me a lot to get rid of everything. Quite often he'd do a big clear out of his room and I'd usually help or just sit and watch and he had no bother binning things and I think that has rubbed off on me. 

When I was moving out of my Norwich room I binned a lot of things, even including some questionable presents people had bought me. I don't think people should feel guilty about getting rid of something just because somebody else bought it! I don't wanna be heartless but really it's your relationship with someone that matters and not what they buy you. I think I just get sentimental over different things. My best pals and housemates made me a scrapbook when I left our house and it's full of photos and inside jokes and silly moments that I will remember forever and that is far more precious to me than the DVD they bought me for my birthday last year. That scrapbook is one of the things I will be taking with me to Spain.

When I pack my suitcases to go over I will write a post on what I'll be taking and then we can decide whether I've actually become more minimalist or if this whole post has been a lie. It'll probably just be my clothes and then loads of technology. I really hope I don't get mugged.

Until next time, hasta luego.

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