Letting go of stuff and embracing my inner minimalist!

I'm faced with homelessness. Don't worry, it's not that bad. If I wanted to I could uproot my child from his school and pull my soul away from the city I love and find a place somewhere else but I am a stubborn something else of a woman and I really, really, really want to stay in Leavenworth...in town… on a sidewalk. So, instead of taking a living arrangement in another city I'm holding out for something here. I'm running out of time, though. My landlords want me out when my lease is up. I have exactly 24 days to find something or … potentially be homeless until I do.

This is where my stuff becomes a burden. We have places to stay until something pops up... but what about the stuff? What do I do with it? This is a question I've been struggling with and now I'm in emergency mode. I have to get a storage unit but thinking about paying to store stuff makes me sick to my stomach. Aren't storage units the epitome of being a spoiled rotten over consuming American???? I mean no offense to anyone else, to each their own, but I, at a primal level, DO NOT want to be this person and yet I have all this stuff I have been left with and nowhere to put it.

Here's the back story:
I've called myself a minimalist for quite a while. I like to not over use or consume or waste. Furthermore, if I'm truly honest, I'm just plain cheap, I hate wasting money on stuff (although I can totally justify spending it on running events and concerts so… yeah…). Because of this most of the stuff I have is second-hand, hand-me-down, well used, worn out and what most Americans would probably consider junk, and I do not love it enough to store it.

Now, with no where to go, my minimalism is put to its biggest test… what do I keep, how much do I purge?

I had a sale this weekend and sold most of the filler goods and furniture I once owned (or gave them to my daughter). I have little left. It's scary, it's kinda sad but… it's OK. I don't need to pay to store stuff that carries with it memories of a life I once had. I need a new beginning.

In paring down the things I have, I've researched the minimalist movement and I like it! For the most part I've been embarrassed to admit I'm a minimalist, now I don't feel so alone. Minimalists are people too. We have have feelings and we value people, experience and life just as much as anyone else, we just don't see it in stuff as much as in people and community. From this day forward I am going to make a more concerted effort to be unashamed of my minimalist tendencies. I do wonder though how a person with a “gifts” love language views the minimalist lifestyle. Could someone with a gifts love language embrace minimalism? I would welcome feedback on this topic from “gifts” people.