There's Spring Cleaning, But Also Summer Cleaning

“Simplicity, clarity, singleness: These are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy as they are also the marks of great art.” —Richard Holloway

With every school vacation, not only a trip, but also a deep cleaning or organizing of something in my household happens. In the pandemic, alas no travel, but at least I still have my satisfying hobby of decluttering and deep dusting. It's not exciting, but I enjoy it. Especially afterwards.

I hand washed my tiny collections of porcelain vases and white teapots, and then I purged books and magazines from my teeming small library. I also purged a few books from hubs' shelf and shifted his baking and gardening books on to the shelf holding my cookbooks. The curio and art-making storage bookcase to the right is next. And this corner of my tiny home is where I turn to for inspiration (my art and craft library) AND the tools and supplies for creating. And I'm finding that I'm more creative when I have less. I'm endeavoring as ever to have fewer possessions and aiming to live a life full of honesty, transparency, consistency, and calm. I've always been considered countercultural, perhaps because of my identity as a minority, but also I think, because I'm quiet. I've never wanted to draw attention to myself, and the pandemic was such a relief for an introvert like me. But a minimalist life isn't without passion or purpose. Living with intentionality and freedom I think have always been my goals although when young, I thought my dream was to own a home. But I discovered later that I want my home not to be a distraction of all the stuff I wanted and accumulated, but be a haven where I could imagine and create as well as be grateful to be without physical wants and focus on the very few relationships and friendships in my life.