’Tis the season.

I love Christmas. Always have, always will. It just holds a special place in my heart.

What I don’t love, is the onslaught of emails and ads and blog posts with Gift Guides, with Black Friday offers, with deals and amazing things I have to buy to feel happy to feel complete! I mean, part of me does love it - who doesn’t love an amazing sale? But the deeper part of me feels unsettled by it. It creates an anxiety - I don’t want to miss the sale, but I also don’t want to spend money buying more, more, more. I know happiness is not to be found in a pair of jeans, but what an amazing price for those amazing jeans, I have to have them, have to get them NOW before they are gone, before the price goes up, before I miss out.

It’s a whirlwind I can get swept up in, if I’m not careful. And I know it doesn’t serve me. I know I am actually happier with less. I don’t think of myself of a minimalist, but in the past year we have reduced our possessions by at least 50 percent, and it has been one of the best things we could have done (you can read more about that here).

The initial purge was spurred by our downsize - moving from a fairly large 2-bedroom house (with a garage FULL of stuff, and I don’t mean cars), to a pretty tiny 1-bedroom apartment. There was just no way around it, stuff had to go! And so it did. We sold a lot, gave away more, and threw away or recycled the rest. It was work! So many decisions, so many craigslist postings, so many people buying, so many trips to goodwill. I am a person who enjoys moving, which I realize sounds crazy - who likes moving?! But I really love the chance to start in a whole new place, decorate, organize, start fresh. I find it thrilling. This last move, however, was exhausting, and I think it was because of all the purging. Decision fatigue is a real phenomenon. In the past, I have simply boxed things up and moved them, dragging things I could easily have done without from one home to the next. But not this time. This time, we really worked through a lot of the stuff, and purged it. We lightened our load.

And it felt good. So good! I cannot recommend it highly enough.

There is something so freeing about having less. It frees up our time spent caring for stuff, or organizing stuff, or looking for stuff. It has freed up my mental space somehow, I literally feel lighter.

So far, we’ve done pretty well with not simply replacing the purged stuff with new stuff. I think I can do better - and am even contemplating putting a moratorium on shopping for a year, but that’s a topic for another post…or perhaps never. Ha! Basically, when space is at a premium, you tend to think twice about what you bring in.

Still, we are due for more purging. For some reason our “den” (really a glorified closet - have you seen condo sizes in Vancouver?), is home to the things we did not purge (why not?!). Overstuffed with large lamps, shelving we have nowhere to put up, and various other detritus from the bigger house, it is almost unusable space. It stores things, but is a bit of a nightmare to navigate.

As such, it is time to remove more from our home. We’ve been here 6 months, and for some reason have not been able to face it until now (I’m telling you, that last move took it out of us). I’m at a place where I want to remove the obvious excess (those lamps I mentioned), and also pare down in other areas. I’m getting into the idea of less, less, less. The idea of space in the closet is thrilling.

Still, the actual process of removing it, is daunting. Especially living in an apartment. You can’t simply put stuff at the end of the driveway or walk it out into the car. You have to lug it down a hallway, down an elevator, walk to the car, and then haul it off someplace. And that’s what’s stopped me. Which is laughable, actually, but true! It feels overwhelming, like too much work.

And so. I thought I would offer a few suggestions - both for myself and for you, if you’re interested in releasing some of the stuff surrounding you.

1. Don’t try to do it all at once. If you’re not facing an imminent move, decide on a once weekly (or once monthly?) visit to goodwill. Have a box, or a spot for the bag of stuff, gather it through the week, throw it in the car and then - and this part is KEY - actually drop it off at goodwill.

2. Consolidate items for sale. Use craigslist or a Facebook group to sell things you think might actually make money. Sometimes it is easiest to make one post with all the things, list their individual prices, and then say “First come, First served, Must go by Friday!” You’ll be amazed at how quickly that stuff flies out of your home. Listing things one by one works - I have done it many times - but it also drags the process out, and seems to require a lot more effort some how.

3. Invest your heart. Do a little research on places you can donate to people in need. Learning about centres that support single mothers or refugees in your neighbourhood, can make lugging a couple of lamps down a hallway seem incredibly easy to accomplish. It’s amazing what perspective can do.

4. Do it with a friend. Either literally, or over the phone. It’s surprising how much more easily we can purge our closet with a little help. You don't need to weigh in on every article of clothing, sometimes just doing something at the same time as someone else makes a daunting task seem manageable. Get on Skype or FaceTime, chat away as you go through your clothes, and occasionally seek help from one another. Much more fun than going it alone.

I’m committed to spending the coming month purging, to releasing more, to lightening the load. It’s very easy, in this holiday season, to bring in more, to lean into excess. I am hoping that by focusing on what I can donate to people in need, I can counter the greed that overcomes me when I am inundated with Black Friday emails. In releasing that which no longer serves us, perhaps we can serve others in concrete and tangible ways. In lightening our load, perhaps we can practice being the light.