Living with Less Means More Time (part 2)

Less clutter means more time is most quickly understood by a parent of small children.  All children go through the "dumper" phase.  My husband hates this phase more than just about any other phase.  This is when our sweet adorable 2 year old goes and gets his dinosaurs.  Instead of taking out the one he is going to play with, he dumps all of them onto the floor.  Which takes more time to clean up?  30 dinosaurs or 10 dinosaurs?  30 hot wheels or 10 hot wheels?  30 Little People or 10 Little People?  As adults, we do the same thing.  We need the cookie sheet on the bottom of the baking pans stack, the t-shirt in the bottom of the pile, or anything that may need found in the "junk drawer".  These things may only take 5 extra minutes, but do that 4 or 5 times today and you have just gained back 20 minutes of your day.  I don't know about you, but I would love to find an extra 20 minutes in every day. 

How often do you lose something?  Your keys, a library book, your favorite shoes, your wallet, your camera? How much time is being wasted looking for these things?  I have a friend with a wallpaper stripping machine in her basement.  She went and bought another one rather than going down there to find it. Why?  Her time was worth more to her than that and she had so much stuff she knew it would take all afternoon.  When we lose these things, not only have we lost what we are looking for, we have lost a little of that peace, contentment and clarity that we all desire.  It is frustrating, stressful and irritating to not be able to find that library book on the due date, to not be able to find the keys when we have to be at an appointment in 10 minutes and it takes 15 minutes to get there. When our homes only have what we regularly use, they naturally become more organized.  There isn't a pile or stack of stuff to shuffle through to find what we need.  And that mental peace and clarity make it more than worth passing up on a 10th pair of shoes, when we usually wear the same 3 pairs anyway.

What do we do with our extra time?  I really benefit from at least 30 minutes/ day to just "be".  That looks different for everyone.  For some that means drinking coffee and reading a book, running, baking, biking, sewing, or painting.  For me, it usually means spending time in my art journal.  I listen to a song or sermon and write out the words.  After 30 minutes of quieting my heart, I feel refreshed and ready to take on the rest of the day.  Less clutter doesn't only mean less stuff, it means less busyness.  Less activity.  Put down the smart phone and let your mind be clear for a short while.  Everyone will still be there when you are finished.  But take this time for yourself so that you can serve others and love them in the way that you intend.  Think of all that you can gain, simply because you have less.