Out of town guests

We can't quite call ourselves minimalists, yet. We are getting closer, but it's a hard thing to accomplish with a family of five. We have been busy this summer and have not had much time to purge. However, over the last several weeks we've had a few people come through our doors to stay for a night or a few days. We noticed a huge difference from when we've had house guests in the past. Here is a look at the way things used to be:

In preparation for our company to arrive, I'd shove things under beds and in closets like a ten year old boy cleaning his room. I spent a lot of time cleaning stuff, dusting stuff and just trying to organize our stuff to make room for more people. When our company would arrive, I'd be stressed out about all of their stuff lying around. Everyone would be tripping over everything and spending a lot of time tidying up the place in order to breathe properly.

This time around things were different. I did not have too much cleaning to do prior to our guests arriving. Everything was already in order so I did not have to shove anything anywhere. When my guests arrived, I was rested and refreshed and ready to entertain. We were able to offer up our small (but spacious!) bedroom. All of their luggage fit nicely in there, so we never had to see any of their stuff. It was awesome! I never once felt like I had to apologize because of the lack of space.

My mom (who is not online and had no idea about our journey) entered the house and said, "It looks bare in here, are you moving?" Ryan and I looked at each other and smiled. It's noticeable!