607 Easter Eggs and No Hunt In Sight

I am in Missouri for Christmas vacation, and I am visiting my parents. They have retired in a small town in Missouri, with a population of about 1200 people; which they love. Also, they live in a 5,500 square feet home, and there are just three of them living in this massive home (my parents and my uncle). Last time I visited for the holidays, I disclosed to my parents that I am embracing minimalism. I explained to them how this "less is more" movement resonated with me and how much more happiness I have because of it. With this disclosure, I was hoping my parents would understand why I was requesting zero gifts for the holiday.

As with many of the individuals that inquire about minimalism (a personal lifestyle), I received some misconceptions from my parents. In red, is where I attempted to educate my parents on how I am interpreting and implementing minimalism into my life. My parents were not wanting to cause me to become defensive, they asked with the goal of being supportive in mind, they just didn't know the answers and wanted desperately to understand.

• So you spent all this money on things, and now you are just going to get rid of all them.
• This is a valid reality of minimalism. There have been times when I have been surrounded by expensive items that I used very little, or not at all (or just do not bring me joy anymore) and have been tempted to keep them because they were such a financial investment, but then this would hinder my removal of everything that distracts me from achieving my highest values on this highly personal journey. To be perfectly transparent, early on during my minimalism journey, I made myself sick with the waste of money on designer brands, duplicated items, and things I never used, that could have been utilized in a more purposeful and meaningful way/cause.
• What if you get rid of something, and then later down the line you need it, are you suppose to just go and buy it again. Seems like such a waste.
• I am not getting rid of something that I use often, but rather things that I do not use. If it comes a time when I need that item again, I could borrow it from a friend and/or rent it. The "what if" mindset can cause individuals to keep items that they may never use again.
• Are you going to be counting your possessions from now on? When we come to visit is your apartment going to barren?
• Being a minimalist you go through your home and remove anything that isn't meaningful to you; therefore, the items that are left are those that hold significance to your life. With this, guest can immediately realize what is important to me. Some minimalists do count their possessions, and some don't. I count the things I get rid of. Also, before I bring something new into my apartment, I need to be able to get rid of something.
• I cannot believe that you are going to get rid of sentimental things from your childhood.
• There are many items from my childhood (artwork, clothes, toys) that I have decluttered so someone else can enjoy them. But I have also kept the items that I remember wearing, using, making, and have them displayed in a significant place, instead of buried at the bottom of a box. This allows me to promote the things that are most valuable to me.
• I know that Seattle is environmentally friendly, but it now seems with the addition of minimalism to your life, you have become an extreme environmentalist.
• Yes, being a minimalist is good for the environment. Minimalists consume less resources, and discard less resources. But not everyone who embraces minimalism does so out of environmental motivations. For me, I was became overwhelmed with the amount of money, time, and energy that was being directed towards the stuff in my life. Contributing to the health of the planet along the way with minimalism, was an added bonus.

I am joyous to report, that since 2016, my parents have been on their own minimalism journey. They needed some support and initiation from me to propel them, but continue to make strides with downsizing their possessions, with the goal of eventually downsizing their home. My retired parents are spending a lot of money on maintaining their home (bills, and high taxes), and expending a lot of energy to keep up with the chores of a huge house, and this has also been a huge motivation to be more mindful of the possessions they own and new ones they want to bring into their home. 

Be on the lookout for an upcoming blog, with photos of the huge quantities of items that my parents have decluttered from their home. In this blog, I wanted to share with you three common things that happen when you have so much space

1. You buy things for a future event/activity that has no set date or time, and then you forget about having them or the event never happens.
2. You end up with so many of the same item.
3. When something is on sale, you tend to buy more of them, even if you don't need more.

These three things happened in regards to Easter eggs for my mom. She bought all of these eggs on sale, with the intent to use them to host a Special Olympics Easter Egg hunt with my uncle's bowling team. Unfortunately, the event didn't come to fruition, and the eggs have been sitting in two separate Tupperware containers. During a decluttering session yesterday, we discovered them, and my mom stated, "Oh, that is where they went to." There was a total of 607 eggs, which means 1 out of 2 people in my parents' town could receive an egg from their collection. To me, this is an astounding realization. My mom was also surprised, and she has decided to donate these unopened eggs and other unused Easter decorations to her church for their 2018 Easter Egg hunt. I am so proud of my mom on finding a meaningful way to repurpose these eggs and decorations.

Easy tips on minimalism: 

1. As we are entering the day-after-Christmas, if you are going to participate in shopping, try to be mindful on how many items you buy, especially if the sole reason you are buying them is because they are on sale. One of the greatest unforeseen benefits  of living a minimalist life is the opportunity to purchase possessions of higher quality. Unfortunately, for some reason, many people don't correlate owning fewer things and owning nicer things.
2. Still needing gift(s) for the holiday, how about gifting experiences instead of things. Such as buying someone a gift card for a rideshare, zoo pass for the family, or gift certificate for a cooking class. My parents were insistent on still giving me something for Christmas, so I asked for a Macy's gift card, not to buy clothes, but for coffee pods. I recently replaced my Keurig with a Nespresso machine. Macy's is the only store that carries Nespresso pods for my machine; also, Macy's has a drop-off for recycling of the Nespresso pods (Keurig's pods are still not recyclable, and I no longer wanted my pods to be added to the landfills). Therefore, my parents are giving me a meaningful gift for a usable item, which has the added benefit of being kind to the environment.