First, it caught my attention at night. I had my suspicions but waved them off.

Then, it was bright morning and didn’t stop when I began to stir. It should have.

In recent years I’d been very busy putting in long work days and then creating in the studio till the early morning. I bought an old Lotus and began to learn why they’re so very different than any other vehicle. And for some reason I thought it was time to refurbish some needful parts of the Land rover including replacing both windshields and making the dash nice again. The dash was done on a table in the living room.

Lotus dash got attention also. Mine is a 1971 Europa, despite what the title says and the wood dash required a strip down and new veneer. Though I was already strapped for time, the cars got a lot of my attention. Especially when I reupholstered the seats.

The house began to fill up with car parts and the table in the kitchen took the brunt of it with piles I dared not disturb. Less and less the house fit the word “domicile”. It became messy and growing regions of “do not disturb any of this” mess reduced the free space. There were times when I could not find space to set a bowl to eat. That is why we have laps, but the chairs also became shelves.

By the time the mouse appeared in my bedroom, even that room was piled with junk and unorganized stuff. When I heard the scratching and shuffling I realized that it was so bold that even hearing me didn’t make it stop, and then I knew I had a situation.

It was time to put things in order. The house had gone to such neglect that it smelled.  Enough was enough!

A week later I had the room emptied, the walls patched and painted, and the blinds and windows cleaned. The mouse was sent outside to play. I replaced my bed and dresser and organized all the stuff. Much of it ended up in the recycling and the garbage bins.

From there, room after room submitted to the broom and trash bin and reorganization. Even the garages and the windows got cleaned. It was no light brush up or dusting that I did, it was thorough.

After a month, the house and garages were reclaimed and the landfill was closer to being filled. Smells better, looks better, and I know what I have and where to find it.

As the project advanced, I became quicker to decide to throw items out. Six times I visited the transfer station with a truck load of redistributables. Now, it’s easy to keep the place clean and organized. I’m not done, but the dirty work is behind me and I love the results!

Dad recently died and although I had no desire for more stuff, I didn’t want to turn down items that I can certainly put to good use so I’ve needed to make place for them.

At the beginning of the project I remembered the scriptural account of the creation of  earth. The eye opener was the realization that creation is simply the organization of elements and things into useful combinations. That’s what I did here as I created a new world, useful for my purposes.

Cleaning and organizing was a spiritual experience that helped me determine my best attitude about ‘stuff’. Stuff must be stored, maintained, protected, worried over, documented, and insured or just held in a distracting heap until some event forces a decision to be made. So any of it that doesn’t contribute to my life mission should be sold, given away, or recycled. No, this doesn’t mean that if you decide I don’t need something then you can have it. I decide.

“Stuff” for the sake of stuff is not good. On the other hand, austerity for the sake of austerity is just as bad because some things extend the good one can do. So the trick is to know where the fat is and trim there.

My Lotus is a good example of right-to-the-limit austerity. There is nothing extra to the car. No redundancy, no extravagance, not even a healthy buffer of ‘just in case’ extra. It all has to be there, has to be working correctly, and all has to be fitted to specification, Otherwise something bad will happen.

I do believe in reserves.

But there is a satisfaction and happiness with having what is needed with a little extra for the times of lack.

There seems to be no increase in satisfaction with burdening excess.

How to make the Lotus lighter