Clean House, Clean Life

By: James Nugent

Narrated by: Marlene C. Bertrand

My wife and I began this voyage of self-discovery about two years ago. Our kids were gone and we wanted to use our living space a little differently. We wanted to clean out some of the clutter we had accumulated from raising two teenage boys and generally clean out our home. Little did we know that before we were done, we would change our view of material belongings, and actually begin rejecting our cultural addiction to owning more stuff.

How it all started: I was organizing our "storage room". It was a 12x10 room and almost completely filled to the ceiling with belongings. Half of the stuff was sporting goods, which I have almost never used. So I gathered up snowshoes, cross-country skis, downhill skis, cooking pots, tents, backpacks, and cook stoves. I donated it all to a thrift store and felt good about giving to charity. They would make perhaps $1,000 and I was rid of a burden. I returned to my humble home on Eld Inlet on Southern Puget Sound, with a feeling of optimism. I didn't know what I would do next as far as cleaning out our home, but I was excited to be doing something.

©2014 James Nugent (P)2014 James Nugent