There was a large period of my life where my first morning thought was “What area can I declutter today?” This was well before Marie Kondo came on the scene :)

 

My favorite books were The Joy Of Less and The Simple Living Guide. Discovering simplicity and minimalism blew my mind - Oh to have words to describe how I felt!

 

Do you have this feeling, too? Did you get so excited when Marie's book came out, like I did? After I read it, I did a HUGE purge of 'mementos' I'd been holding onto for years, and the feeling afterwards was like floating on air!

  

'Letting Go' is my favorite way to clean – we let go of non-special things so we don’t have to clean them, or under them. Do you know the feeling of being owned by your possessions?

 

I love being able to see baseboards and large expanses of floor. I also love not having many things to move or pickup when cleaning!

 

BUT! I'm also a painter with a studio full of art supplies, shipping materials, products and paintings...

 

 

So… how to create while wanting LESS?
6 tips:

 

1)    Be careful with what is allowed to enter the house and take root. Handle things at the door (junk mail, packaging, shoes & coats) before they can get in and get comfy.

2)    Create only what you love, why create something you are not proud of that will just sit around? Be honest with yourself when a piece is done.

3)    Surrender to the fact that creating = things. Personally, it helps me to keep a small inventory of paper prints but I don’t hold inventory of t-shirts or canvas prints ~ these are created AS they are ordered :)

4)    Have a place for supplies and keep them in their place. After a big creative rush, I clean up and put everything away. Even though I’ll get the paints BACK out within a couple hours to start something new. The space between projects is meaningful.

5)    Regularly go through drawers and let stuff go: crusty brushes, recyclable paper and plastic, dried up paints. I donate art paper to the school and cut up damaged prints for to-do lists.

6)    Surrender to the fact that your creative area is going to be messy. It is where you make magic. 

 

I balance my psyche by making sure the rest of the house is decluttered. 

  

Do you relate to this? Do you also feel a pull in your soul toward having less? I’d love to hear your thoughts, anecdotes, books and/or techniques!!

 

Thank you for reading. Have a wonderful week's end.

Love & Sincerely, Katie

 

Note: the above links to some of my favorite books are NOT affiliate links.