Also in the extreme picture, I imagined we’d get rid of our TV/VCR/DVD player, as well as all but one music player and all but one alarm clock. We could then also get rid of all of our movies and CDs, and the entertainment center in the den. I imagined getting rid of the clothes washer and dryer, since with so few clothes each, I could just as easily set up a hand-washing station where the washer and dryer are now, and just hand-wash the clothes once a week. I could get rid of my sewing machine and learn to hand-sew everything. We could get rid of the deep-freeze, and learn to preserve food by drying and canning. We could greatly simplify our kitchen dishes & tools, and then get rid of the dishwasher, and just hand wash what we have. I would also get rid of the Cuisenart, coffee-maker (I’m cold-brewing my coffee now anyway), electric teapot, and others I rarely use. We would use mostly the stove/oven, the toaster oven and the Vitamix, esp. for grinding grain.

            We would keep the computers and the office, since my writing and my husband’s work depends on it, and the ironing board and iron, since dh depends on those (and I use them for sewing). But just see the den now—it has so much more empty space, with the entertainment center gone and the sewing table gone. We could use the wall space for homeschooling—maps, etc.

            Continuing with the extreme version, we would also get rid of all the board games and the linen press. We would keep our books and bookshelves (keeping only the best, most quality books, and all homeschooling materials). We would keep all gardening supplies, art & writing supplies, homeschooling & educational supplies, outdoor toys and bikes, hand-sewing, knitting & needlework supplies. Our family would start spending our time with the Lord, in conversations, in focusing on our garden projects, in our hand-done chores (use a broom and get rid of the vacuums), in arts & crafts, in books & learning, in outdoor play, in creative projects, and of course, we’d still have the computers.

            For food I would work towards trying to grow all of our own food as much as possible, and avoid packaged foods altogether. We would minimize our camping gear, as we’d still want to camp. I would also have to figure out how to minimize my scrapbooking stuff. One idea I had was to just scrapbook our homeschooling portfolio(s), and just journal instead of doing a regular family scrapbook (with an occasional photo in the journal).

            We would keep the dining table, but replace all the chairs with benches. We would keep all the couches. We would greatly simplify our winter coats & all our shoes, so the coat wall area wouldn’t be so cluttered. We would keep homemade décor, but get rid of the rest.

            What a glorious picture!