Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about clutter and its effect on peoples’ lives. In a more perfect world, my house would be model-home sparse and dust-free. Two of my best pals are white-glovers (and TG & KH, you know I love you to death;) neither of them can stand to have one iota of extra-anything in their homes. Both routinely purge their rooms of superfluous items. So enamored was I with TG’s clean, organized pantry, I took photos of it when she wasn’t around. I look at those photos now and then, my own private kitchen porn (see below!)
TG’s kitchen cabinet
While I wouldn’t exactly qualify for “Hoarders,” I do tend to collect stuff beyond what I should. Paperwork is a tough one for me. I keep papers for both practical and sentimental reasons. I still have my very first tax return from when I was like 18. Bank statements and credit card bills from decades ago. I’m sorry, it’s true.
So I’ve been doing a little purging myself. It’s slow-and-go, but I’m working through it. It hurts at first, throwing stuff away or bagging it up for charity. Yet I now recognize the joy, the feeling of lightness, of un-encumbered-ness, of not-really-missing-it-ism. I’m learning that the world won’t come to a standstill, throwing the population off its sides, if I let go of stuff.
I had to figure out what was standing in my way. I did identify some issues I had that were clogging up the process! So, I’ve decided that:
- I don’t have to place a monetary value on things I get rid of, feeling the guilt of money I could have reaped if I’d taken time to eBay them;
- I don’t have to make a detailed list for my tax return;
- I don’t have to consider what the best charity for each item will be, running all over town to drop books at the library “friends,” the clothing for the thrift shop, the magazines for the seniors, etc. I can trust one fine non-profit or charity to make those decisions;
- I don’t have to keep every receipt; the likelihood of my needing to know what that lawnmower cost back in 1982 is pretty slim; don’t even get me started about warranties;
- I don’t have to save every birthday card, every crayon drawing, or twenty-two mini-wallet-sized school photos of my sons; one of each will do.
And that’s just a start. This week, I will tackle the under-sink cabinet in the guest bath, where now resides an old lava lamp, a nebulizer that belonged to my dad (who passed away 15 years ago), some near-empty bottles of liquid soap, a rarely used vaporizer I bought around 12 years ago (still in the box!) and Lord knows what else is down there. Putting on the rubber gloves and blinders…wish me luck!