Moving from a three-storey house to a three-bedroom condo unit is quite a challenge, especially when you are blessed with a mother who loves giving you stuff.

Since we got married, my mom has always had this habit of finding something for us, convincing herself that it is something we MIGHT just need sometime within the decade, and then buying it and shipping it over to our house. When we had kids, all the more my mom wanted to give us things so she could hear that her grandchildren had a “wow” moment over something new that she has just bought for them.

This is something I am most grateful for, especially since we cannot really afford to buy a lot of the things we want, but now I am faced with the challenging task of purging all my stuff and learning to live with irreducible minimums.

“Irreducible minimums.”

This is what we always have to repeat to ourselves if we want to progress in our quest for a less cluttered household. Every time we start sorting out our things and letting go, there is always that temptation of “I MIGHT need this someday”, even though in most cases that “someday” never comes and we know it. When we find ourselves stuck while in the process of purging, this question would come in handy:

“What are the irreducible minimums?”

I got this concept of irreducible minimums at a teaching training a few years back. The technical definition for this term is something that is impossible to reduce to a desired, simpler, or smaller form or amount.We were reminded to stick to the irreducible minimums when it comes to teaching and speaking in public. Oftentimes, there are way too many things we want to say, so much so that we overwhelm our audience and they end up not remembering anything from our session.

I love how this concept applies to most areas of our lives, not just in public speaking.

Whenever we try to teach our kids a new concept, we have to try to stick to the irreducible minimums so they can better grasp and remember the new things we teach them.

If we are to prioritize and fix our schedules, we have to narrow down all our engagements to the irreducible minimums so we do not stretch ourselves too thin and lose focus on the things that really matter.

Whenever we find ourselves in a discussion with our spouse (or anyone else for that matter), it is always wiser to stick to the irreducible minimums with our words. As the Bible says it, “When words are many, sin is not absent…” (Proverbs 10:19).

In organizing and decluttering our household, again we have to think through all our stuff and decide which are the ones that we really cannot live without, the irreducible minimums. Everything else falls into the “nice-to-have” category.

In our lives, what are the irreducible minimums we know we need to accomplish or to have so at the end of it all we can say we have lived abundantly and to the best of our abilities? Do we live each day accordingly?

Irreducible minimums.

I’m sure by now you get the concept.

Heehee!

Okay, NOW my excuse for not writing a single entry over the last couple of days is because of the house-move. I have been going back and forth almost everyday, trying to fix whatever I can so we can finally move in to the new house.

Huu-whhhaatt??!? You’re too slow Thammie! I thought you’ve moved in a month ago???

Whoa! Before you judge me, let me explain!

I have had no helper whatsoever so I have been doing all the cleaning and arranging and moving around of all the furniture all by myself! (Well, the moving around part… actually that’s Dennis….I just wanted to sound like a superwoman. Hahaha!)

But yes, that’s really why I have been taking so long. Add to that the fact that simultaneous to all the moving and arranging, I’m having some repainting jobs done, plus the shelves and some cabinets are still being constructed as we speak.

The good news, though, is that I think by tonight I can get at least ONE room of the new place clean enough for us to have our first sleep-over! Woohoo!!! I am so excited to move in to the new place. I have been living like a nomad for a few months now, and though I love the idea of having no household responsibilities and not having to think about what to feed the family daily, I would not trade having my own place to call home for anything in the world.

Here are some of the main things I have learned (or have been reminded of) over the past couple of weeks:

1. Go for “progress”, not “perfect”.

I have to keep repeating this to myself. I have a tendency to perfect the details and sweat the small stuff, and then later on realize I’ve been spending too much time on one thing and haven’t made any real progress!

2. Small is big.

This can apply to so many things. Every small thing you acquire adds big time to clutter; Every “cheap” thing you put into the cart adds up to a big amount at the check-out counter; every small gesture of generosity refreshes someone else in a big way…small is big.

3. Slow is fast. (and labeling really is a homemaker’s best friend!)

Initially I felt that I was kind of slow because I had to be so detailed in labeling all our things, but oh wow…because I have tons of boxes and sacks, I CANNOT imagine how it would be like if I didn’t take the time to label everything carefully. The unpacking is so much faster because of that system.

4.  The urgent will always seem to be the most important.

But often, it is not the case.

There were a lot of times when Dennis and I had to stop taking care of the renovation and house move because our daughters would start to remind us of the lack of time we have been spending with them.

It is so easy to get caught up with what the concerns that are screaming “urgent!!!” that we sometimes forget to listen to the cries of those that are really important.

5. When God told husbands and wives to “leave and cleave”, He really had our best interests in mind.

I am super thankful….beyond words….for the kindness shown by my in-laws. They have been so generous and patient with us. We stayed there for over a month and it really was a lot easier for us especially since I could leave the kids there and not have to worry about them inhaling all the dust (and messing up the already-messy place) and pretty much not have to worry about anything else but the move. BUT like I said, I would not trade living with my husband and kids in our own place for any of the convenience and benefits of living with our parents. It’s really just different….a good kind of different.

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Okay, there’s really more than five points that I want to share, but I’m afraid I’ll stop at seven of eight….and I always prefer my lists to be divisible by five. So for now, that’s it. I have to get back to cleaning up.