I’ve posted a lot about goals on the blog lately. Yearly goals, monthly goals and just miscellaneous goals in general. While sitting on the couch one Sunday, completely exhausted from working on our house for days like a mad woman, I realized that my biggest goal for this place is to get to a point where I don’t have to work on it.

I want to be in a position where things feel ok. I want to be in a place where Matthew and I can take spontaneous weekend trips or spend the afternoons biking or sitting on the patio. I want to go sit and chat at Starbucks or explore our neighborhood. I don’t want to always feel like I have to work on this house nonstop.

I’m sure these feelings are common for people moving in to a new home, but I remember feeling them until the day we moved from our rent house. I never finished that house. I never felt like things made sense, and I never felt like I could sit and take a breather there.

Today, I’m happy to finally put this unspoken goal into words. I’m not hoping to have a perfect home that’s always clean and wonderfully decorated. (Although, I do hope to get my head wrapped around the decor soon.) I understand that nothing will ever be perfect, and I actually hope that our home will always continue to evolve as we find new things that we love or make this place work better for us. However, I do expect to end up with a home that’s free of clutter. I want emptied boxes and closets that aren’t crammed to the brim. I want to be able to easily replace and remove items from their drawers, and I want everything to have a place to go. Basically, I don’t want any excess.

For many years, I’ve kept extra things around as a false sense of security. I found comfort in having things and I attached sentimental value to the silliest of items. When moving into this house, I decided that it was time to part ways with some of the stuff. Parting with the extra things, will make my daily life so much easier, less stressful, and more rewarding. Having a home to come to that’s a reflection of myself (extra clutter is not a reflection of who I am), will make such a huge difference in my overall well-being and feelings about myself and my home.

I’ve read lots of blogs on clutter-free living and creating spaces that work for you and your lifestyle instead of just housing your junk. Since Matthew and I have been married, I’ve done so much better at not holding on to so much stuff. Part of my problem is that I attach sentimental value to practically everything. The other part is that I hate to get rid of something that I’ve spent my hard-earned money on and that I’m afraid I might need/want later. Nonetheless, something can be said for learning to part with the extra stuff…only keeping that things you love and need.

I’m right on the brink of reaching this goal. Honestly, just the progress that I’ve made recently feels so rewarding. Knowing that I’m on the brink of feeling better about my world is such an invigorating feeling. I feel encouraged and inspired, and I know that I’ll feel even more amazing once the last item has found a home.

Now that this goal is out in the open, I have no choice but to make it happen. I’m determined to make this dream a reality. I’m determined to get to a point where our home is a place of relaxation, not of work. Need to declutter your home and let go of some extra baggage? Join me! I’d love to talk about our progress and ideas along the way. How do you feel about clutter? Do you tend to keep extra items or is it easy for you to part with things?