My Honey often quotes one of his spiritual fathers saying, "It is easier to build a multi-million dollar building than to change one mind." And if you've ever tried to change the mind of a two year old, you know there is truth in that!
Our goal of living a simple life on Hacienda Hill has required a series of mind changing paradigms. You cannot live as you always lived, doing what you have always done and expect different results. I do believe that is also, one of the definitions of insanity. Regardless, we have made many a mind changing turns in our journey, some much more difficult than others but all for the best.
The other day, while taking laundry off the line (one change for the better) my Honey said, "I STILL have too many clothes!" (Major change for the better) This man was a self-confessed clothes horse. After all these years together and multiple efforts on my part to pare down his excessive stash of clothing, he continued to require 8/10ths of our master closet to accommodate his clothing...and shoes...alone. What is wrong with this picture?!
He was supportive of our goal to live a more simple, greener lifestyle where less is more and encouraged me every step of the way. The day I tackled our closet was a day of reckoning for him. Okay, let me clarify that it took far more than A day to tackle our closet....days, intense days, many days, days of sweaty labor...you get the picture. We had added another shelf/rod down the longer wall of the closet years ago for his things. This meant he had that long wall rod, the end wall which had a double row of rods and over half of the original long wall rod. We had two hanging shoes racks, one almost to the floor (his) and a short one (mine) and a built-in shoe & storage shelf....most of which he had more of his shoes and/or folded clothes on. I might mention at this point hat he was constantly encroaching in on my little hanging shoe rack with his big old clodhoppers. In our chest of drawers, I had two small and one medium sized drawer. All the rest were his...the big drawers. The drawers on a beautiful cabinet I brought into the marriage were stuffed with his things as well. We will not talk about things piled about...mostly because we were both guilty of that and I AM talking about his clothes today...hehehe.
After a few days of just pulling things out of the closet, I tackled the task of deciding what went back in and where. I first culled the clothes I know I do not, will not or cannot wear. Then I culled the clothes I know he does not, will not or cannot wear. That was a much bigger task. Next, I determined where things would go back in the closet, that brought the decision NOT to use the shelf & rod we added in the first place. Without it, it once more became a walk-in closet. With it, no walking-in to be had!
I designated the short wall with double rods as the main clothes area. I assigned him 3/4 of it and I took the last 1/4. This was a shock to his system. The original long wall holds both hanging shoe racks, my dresses...all three of them remaining....with room for the chest of drawers to fit nicely under the rest of the rod. Viola! It was lovely!
I hung all his long sleeve shirts together in 1/4 the space, the short sleeve together in 1/4 the space and his pants on another 1/4. It was a beautiful sight. The rule for us now is that if it doesn't fit in the allocated space, it must go. He did, early on in this mind changing process, try to 'absorb' some of my 1/4 space for his overflow. His argument was that I wasn't using all of it....my prerogative, I insisted...and he had to weed out to fit in! It was painful at first but he got into the swing of of it and realized it wasn't so bad after all! He chose what stayed as long as it fit in it's appropriate space.
Now, he loves it! He has not missed the clothes that were culled and has, on his own I might add, filled two large trash bags of clothes to donate.Now you know why his proclamation of still having too many clothes was such a big deal. We estimated how many things he needed for work, how many 'good' shirts, etc, and shed everything else. We have a continuous bag of 'Things to Take Away' and add to it as we go.
We still have to work our way through the chest of drawers and the shelf in the closet but the radical changes required a little adjustment time, so I have put off all that for now. I make regular checks on the closet to make sure it is staying neat and tidy with things in their places. The top of the chest was zoned 'stuff free' and remains so. That, in and of itself is a miracle! Life at Hacienda Hill is getting more simple and green all the time and we love it. Room by room, drawer by drawer we are freeing ourselves of the that which bogs us down.
The smell of clothes dried on the line is fresh and renewing. The act of hanging them is relaxing to me and my Honey helps me bring them in. We reap the benefits of seeking that simple life every day and look forward to each step of the journey.
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