I recently watched the Minimalist Film and what I found fascinating, was the way the people in the movie, had some “life changing” moment where at a cross roads, they realised life was not about ‘stuff’. I wondered if what minimalism really is, is the art of contentment… learning to close the circle on what we would define as a ‘need’.
In the film the 333 project was mentioned. A clothing challenge to live on 33 items for 3 months, as a means of helping you ‘be more with less’. It appealed to me, but I realised not because I wanted to strip my wardrobe but because I wanted to have a clearer sense of what I own, what I love, what works for me.
And then I discovered in my research the Curated Closet. I love this quote by Anuschka Rees (Curated Closet) “Minimalism isn’t a numbers game. It’s not about owning or doing as little as possible. It’s about owning and doing the right things, things that add value to your life. Minimalism is all about that little bit of extra intention and making conscious choices.”
INTENTIONAL. A *Curated Life
*’select, organize, and look after the items
This really got me thinking about how that looks in my life, in different seasons. Right now Im entering a really busy season – Ive taken on some study that Im hugely excited about, and also entering a new level of learning with my eldest who is starting to shape his learning towards future plans, and then there is just the minor fact that I produced arguably the worlds busiest 2 year old. Yet Ive discovered that having a goal – the longer term projection – makes this combination exciting and the process of being intentional with stuff, falls naturally alongside it. I say that because other seasons, having more, concentrating on decor and setting things up nicely, has mattered too, and Ive enjoyed that also. I think the key is intentional and conscious. And right now Im needing to intentionally stop picking up a hundred toys and putting them into random boxes, and intentionally know what items the kids need for their wardrobes, what they don’t wear, and where the partners are to all their socks. On top of that, were in the process of slowly moving the boys into our ‘learning room’ because it has more space, and its own bathroom. Which meant I needed to strip the sewing room (their new wardrobe), move out anything that was being held on to “just in case” that I was realistically not needing.
I wanted to get the kids on board rather than swim uphill, so we turned this into a fun writing/ earning exercise: We looked at advertising, persuasive writing and words, and then I gathered up a pile of things of theirs, of which I knew they no longer needed. I then had them choose something, clean it up, study its attributes and write down words to describe it. They then had to use this to write a description and list the item on trade me: The bonus being for them, anything they sell they get to keep the money. They evaluated value and correct pricing and I made them answer trader questions and engage when their buyer turned up to collect the items. They loved it and so did I! We will keep doing this because it was so rewarding.
Then comes my wardrobe.. and thats a massive curated work in progress but I started simply by taking photos of images in magazines that I naturally draw to for their fabric, colours and quickly saw the common threads: aqua, blues, soft natural fabrics, touches of feminine and lace and delicate details, whites, hints of rose and pink and a touch of spring yellow. Now to spot the gaps and curate what will make my wardrobe work. I will keep you posted.
Fearless Family 