The Beginning

I've been trying to remember when my simplifying journey began. You would assume that it all started when my house burned down six and a half years ago and I lost everything. It didn't.
After that I felt such a sense of loss that I couldn't wait to replace stuff. And that's just what I mean. Not special items... "stuff".  Just have stuff around me again.
I missed all the closets bulging. I missed attics and storage rooms full of rubbermaids. Who the heck knew what needed to be in them but just knowing they were there and taking up space apparently had been a comfort to me.
So I started shopping again. Buying things without thinking. I had insurance money and a clean slate. I could buy whatever the heck I wanted. So by golly, I did.
I went to yard sales and flea markets and shopped online and hit TJ Maxx every couple of days. I came home daily with bags of stuff. I was living in a 5000 square foot home with more storage than any ten families need so I could bring everything home and it never got in my way or felt cluttered.

A few months later we started moving all of that crap into my brand new house. I couldn't believe it! How on earth had I acquired so much in just eight short months? But I kept on shopping.
Every time I found a little money I was off to spend it. I bought many beautiful things. Tons of beautiful things. We lived in that house for five months before we realized that our boys needed more space to run around and so we put a for sale sign outside and moved back into the 5000 square foot mansion that we had just left.

If I had gone crazy before I went absolutely insane then. That mansion had wall space and random rooms everywhere. I was determined to fill it and make it look "homier". The problem at that point was that I was out of money. So I got creative. I hit more yard sales and even found free things from abandoned buildings. It was so much fun!

This was most of my most favorite hauls. Almost everything in this picture was free or close to it. I was becoming a pro! This huge mansion was becoming more and more full of treasures. The walls were filling up daily. The closets, spare rooms, basement, and garage, were starting to look not only like I had never had a fire but also like I had been a collector for about twenty years instead of 18 months. If I couldn't afford it I made it. I collected books, instruments, quilts, doilies, picture frames, vases, pitchers, dishes, flower pots, linens, anything else I could find that was pretty. 

 This became my style of decorating. Beautiful and fun but SO MUCH STUFF!!

By the time we moved out of that house a year and a half later, I was set to furnish several beautiful flea market booths. And that was exactly what I started thinking I might need to do. 

Could I start finding beautiful things and selling them for more than I paid? Possibly! This new line of thinking would actually lead to my eventual downsizing. 

As I start reliving this story, I realize how relieved I am that I started this journey and also how excited I am to share it with you! Thanks for reading today!