Decluttering Is Not an Identity, It's a Means to an End

Living simply is a framework for life, not life itself

My simple living framework gives me the freedom to make, write and photograph food in locations like this one

When you’re in the depths of decluttering, simplifying your diary and your habits, it can be hard to visualize what the end result is going to look like.

Indeed I — as well as many other simple living writers — will tell you that there is no such thing as the end. We’ll tell you this is a lifetime commitment to living smaller, simpler, and more sustainably.

But there does come a point when thinking about living simply becomes less of a thing. Once you’ve got your simple living frameworks in place and you’re in the “maintenance stage,” then what?

It’s this idea that I want to talk about today. Why are you pursuing a simpler life? What’s going to be your “end”?

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I’m sure none of us want to look back on our simple life and think gosh, all I did was declutter for decades.

No. We want to look back and think I’m so pleased I chose to live simply because it freed me up to do X, Y, and Z.

Simple living is a framework. It’s this framework that — once it guides your values, principles and choices — gives you a fighting chance of actually achieving that X, Y, and Z.