One thing I love about living in my in-law’s country house every summer is that I’m separated from much of my stuff–my shoes, clothes, books, photos, mail, and all those magazines piling up.
Possessions and clutter inhibit us all from feeling free, and distract us from our essence. As Marley’s ghost said to Ebenezer Scrooge, “Do you feel the weight of the chains you bear in life?”
Yeah, I certainly do. Not that I hate my things. I just hold on to too many of them.
But rejoice! I’ve found new resources for those who, like me, need hand-holding as we clean, and sound, sympathetic advice…though one of them is a new magazine that might land in the bedside pile (thankfully, it only comes out six times a year).
“Organize” magazine is the brainchild of a can-do woman profiled here. Here’s her website. Her slogan is terrific. It’s “You Are Not Your Stuff.” How true.
Tangible, daily help and wit are also available here, at the blog Unclutterer.com. Whether it’s medicine chest-clearing advice you need, or where to find attractive but inexpensive storage boxes, writers Jerry Brito, Erin Doland, and Matt Niemi will be there to help you develop your own de-cluttering missions. And you can laugh at your mess! One recent post contains this radical suggestion: “Go on, shave your head!” Hair maintenance, they say, causes us to accumulate all manner of objects–from sprays to blow dryers–that take up our valuable space!
Beliefnet
Advertisement
posted June 28, 2007 at 5:48 pm
I’m not a packrat to begin with, but the quickest lesson I learned about possessions, clutter, etc. was from clearing out my parents’ home and storage buildings after they had both died.
I spent eight hours a day, five days a week for three weeks (by myself, if I may add) clearing out everything (most of it outright junk). What was useful went to Goodwill, or sold at an estate sale. What wasn’t went straight to the landfill, courtesy of a rented dumpster that was emptied five times.
I swore then and there that that would NOT be me someday.
posted June 29, 2007 at 12:37 am
What keeps me from throwing out stuff is not that i seem to need it right then but i harbor that fantasy of sitting around one day around the box cooing over things i’d forgotten about. isnt that wierd? to keep things so that you can forget them so that you can then later remember them again?
posted June 30, 2007 at 6:57 pm
My daughter turns 18 in August. This weekend I am cleaning the basement and letting go of a lot of stuff I needed to raise her. My exhaustion is coupled with exhilaration.
posted July 1, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Books. I buy books before I finish the others. Yes, it’s an addiction. I can’t read them quik enough and my time seems less and less. The result is stacks of unread books in my closet. And what about the books I have read? Resting on my book shelves, most I will never look at again?
Is that clutter? Or does it represent a need to show I read?
posted July 2, 2007 at 3:41 pm
After the last of my 3 children went away to college, I got a divorce and moved into a smaller house by myself. I had all the boxes put into the garage and I went through them to get out what I needed for the moment. That same week my Dad became very ill and died a few months later so I didnt get fully unpacked. The weeks turned into months and then 3 years went by. I wondered in the back of my mind why I didnt offically move into my new house. Maybe I wanted to be foot loose and fancy free and ready to run off at a moments notice. I went out to look at what has been out in the garage a few weeks ago and then it dawned on me, I LOVE not having to dust or organize all that clutter! I decided to let go and turned 20 boxes into 3. The rest I had hauled to the goodwill and trash. I felt 20 pounds lighter. Now the trick is not to collect new clutter!