Clutter
is the bane of my existence. I really
intensely dislike it. Clutter makes me
feel ill at ease and claustrophobic. It
will also put me in a bit of a foul mood.
Clean, clear wide open spaces, that is what gives me peace and allows me
to function at my full potential.
We live
in a small house with 1030 square feet of living space. Three of us living comfortably in a two
bedroom home with a full bath upstairs and a half bath down. We converted two-thirds of our garage into a
family/bedroom with a closet (currently we use this room as a family room) and
the remaining one third is our storage room where our bikes, tools, garden supplies,
upright freezer, extra refrigerator, A/C units, pet foods and holiday
decorations take up residence.
Six
years ago I embarked on a mission to pare down my belongings and find peace and
tranquility within my home. I got rid of
A LOT of STUFF. It truly amazed me at
how much I had managed to pack into my little home. What also amazes me is that I am still
working on it after all this time.
The
best piece of advice I can give to someone who feels they are drowning in a sea
of clutter and disorganization is to GET RID OF YOUR STUFF. Once you get started it is the most
liberating feeling you will ever experience.
You will discover a lot about yourself in the process too:
·
Why
do you hold onto the things you do?
·
Why
do you buy the things that you buy?
·
What
is truly important and what is not?
· Transforming
into someone who owns stuff instead of someone who is owned by stuff.
·
You
will spend A LOT less money.
·
Tensions
will start to ease.
·
You
will love coming home.
·
Your
interests will change and you will become more productive.
·
You
will know where things are because you will have less stuff to keep track of.
·
You
will have more time.
·
You
will entertain more often.
·
You
will be happier.
Clutter,
however great or small, has a negative impact on our psyche. It weighs us down and becomes
burdensome. It causes us to withdraw and
can create depression. Who needs that?
So
don’t go out and buy more boxes and bins and labels to try to organize your
stuff. Just get rid of it and use that
time to do something far more enjoyable.
Do you
have any clutter kicking ideas you’d care to share?
I am embarrassed to admit I have been purging for over 4 years and still have more to go. My home does not appear cluttered on the surface but wow...the closets, cupboards, drawers! Yikes. I still struggle to part with some things. I am working on it but it is hard, especially for me to rid myself of various seasonal decorations.
ReplyDeleteYou are certianly not alone here and I completely understand how you feel. It is a steady work in progress. It is also a challenge not to bring more stuff into the house too.
ReplyDeleteWith 4 kids in the house, i'm forever "decluttering" and organizing... but i'm happy to say that i'm getting pretty good at it, and a LOT more goes out than is coming in!!!
ReplyDelete