While standing at my kitchen counter, I can reach a total of 30 plates. I have a family of three, but instant access to 30 plates.

We really don’t need 30 plates, or 20 bowls, or two dozen coffee cups. And that’s just from one row of kitchen cabinets. You can apply the same principle to just about anything else in the house. Ten years ago, we moved into a house that’s bigger than we need it to be, and we’ve spent a decade just filling it up.

I’m making a note of this because we’re currently working with our architect to figure out the space that we’ll be moving into. We’re trying to plan a house that’s a better match the way we really live. It will more open, but smaller. Not everything can come. There are major yard sales in our future.

Fortunately, I think Matt, John and I agree about things that should stay and things that should go. Books stay, second couch goes. Six or eight plates in the kitchen is plenty. I’m actually looking forward to paring down. It will be nice to live surrounded by only the things that we need and love.