Let's get this party started!

We are a couple of thirty-somethings living in suburbia with two small children and a dog.   Both of us grownups have major pack rat tendencies that we've had all our lives.   We lived in a one bedroom apartment for the first year of our marriage and then bought our house, which is a pretty typical 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1970s-vintage suburban tract home.  As we lived in our home, the amount of "stuff" that we accumulated has filled every closet, every drawer and cabinet, and almost every inch of our unfinished basement - even the shed!   Things were slightly more manageable when we only had one kid, but as our second child is becoming mobile we're coming to the realization that we need to clean up our act.  

I was pretty anti-minimalism since it conjures up mental images of spare, empty, cold living space with no nice things.  Then I read about Joshua Becker's concept of "rational minimalism" and it struck a chord with me.  This is not going to be an easy or quick journey; there will be fits and starts and failures, but we'll make it eventually.

Our goals for this process:

~ Earn some money by selling some things that we don't need

~ Increase our tax deduction for charitable donation by donating some other things that we don't need

~ Organize what is left so that everything has a place and is easy to find

~ Create more functional space in our small home to accommodate our growing family

~ Reduce the amount of time that everyday housework (cleaning, laundry, etc.) takes so that we have more time as a family

This blog is going to document the process - complete with incredibly embarrassing "before" photos in some cases, running totals of money earned by selling/tax deductions for donating, and hopefully "after" pictures of our successes!