Susan V. Vogt - Blessed by Less: Clearing Your Life of Clutter by Living Lightly

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2013 Susan V. Vogt

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Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright 1993 and 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cover art credit: iStockphoto.com/feoris

eBook ISBN: 978-0-8294-3903-8

Based on the print edition: 978-0-8294-3902-1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013945009

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My husband and I did not quickly or easily come to our desire to live more lightly. We both were fortunate to grow up in families with the ability to pay for college educations and a lot more. We are grateful for these advantages, but college also opened our eyes to the reality that many people did not have the advantages that had been normal for us. The more we observed the world around us, the more we sought a deeper spirituality. And the more we did that, the more we felt compelled to give backor at least not take as much of the worlds resources.

For decades now we have been trying to live more simply. But as time passed and our family grew, I noticed that I continued to accumulate a lot of stuff. Because I tend to be a pretty organized person, many items were neatly stored away for a rainy dayor eventually for the grandchildren I hoped to have. The grandchildren came, but their parents didnt need or want thirty-year-old outfits with spit-up stains on them. Also, I thought I could do better. The needs of my community and the Catholic faith that formed me from childhood required a renewed effort at living lightly. I started to reassess what all this saving was about.

Thus was born the decision to give away at least one thing a day for Lent. This Christian penitential season of six weeks seemed long enough to make a difference, and giving stuff away would be an appropriate sacrifice. I blogged about it (www.SusanVogt.net/blog) in order to hold myself accountable and possibly to inspire others to make their own experiments. Lent came and went, and I was becoming addicted to identifying things I no longer needed. I decided to continue the practice for a year. The ironic thing is that instead of feeling poorer, I felt freer and more fulfilled.

At the end of the year, another Lent was approaching, and again I was looking for a meaningful way to deepen my spiritual life. I came across the Food Stamp Challenge. Several lawmakers and celebrities had tried it for a week to bring awareness to the difficulty of eating nutritiously on $4.50/daythe average Food Stamp budget. My husband and I agreed to do the Food Stamp Challenge during the next six weeks of Lent. Since we are now a household of two, this meant we had $9.00/day to spend on food. We didnt starve, but it wasnt easy and we stopped when the six weeks were over. We both learned a lot about ourselves, about what food means to us, and just a little bit about what it must feel like to try to live like that all the time.

As I write this, another Lent has beckoned, and Im trying to reduce how much stuff I put in the trash. Again I need my husbands compliance because making garbage is a joint activity.

If you picked up this book, the idea of getting along with less stuff has some appeal to you. You may not choose the activities I did, but I hope that my experiences may inspire, inform, and motivate you to assess what really gives your life meaning.

As a lifelong Catholic I certainly bring that heritage to my decisions. In my own spiritual journey I have been influenced by the Judeo-Christian Scriptures and people of faith who have gone before me. In learning about other spiritual traditions, however, I recognize that the search for God and a spiritual core is universal. I think the deeply rooted instinct to live more lightly upon this earth transcends any one religion and abides in conscientious people of good will.

When I finished college, I put all my earthly possessions in a VW beetle and moved 200 miles to Cleveland, Ohio. It did bust my cars alternator, but at that time in life I had enough. Married and four kids later, Im a few pounds heavier and my possessions are tons heavier. Not only do I have more clothes and furniture (plus technology that hadnt been invented a generation ago), I am also storing stuff for our adult children and have all kinds of memorabilia that have accumulated over years of family life. Sometimes I feel heavier than my weight. I decided that I wanted to lighten my life by letting go of some of the stuff that crowded my house and my mind.

Your life is an overflowing closet. You know it is. There are sweatshirts folded up in a corner of your mind where your childrens birthdays should be stored. That worry about the rust on the car is taking up the space that you had reserved for a slow cup of tea in the morning. I know how you feel. And guess what? Theres a way to get stuff back where it belongs: let go of some of it.

Living lightly is not just about the stuff we accumulate, and its not just for people in the second half of life. Its about an attitude of living with fewer burdens and encumbrances, whether youre twenty-one or sixty-five. When done with honest self-awareness, the journey toward living more lightly has moved me to realize that I am blessed by less. Less stuff and worries have opened space to live with more contentment and meaning. Living lightly reminds me that my existence is more than accumulating possessions and status. Ultimately, I am on a spiritual pilgrimage.