Think about it. In a cluttered home, needed items are hard to find. Truly treasured objects are difficult to spot amid all the junk we've collected out of guilt (the hideous, two-sizes-too-big sweater from Aunt Nell) or hope (the jeans you haven't been able to wear since high school but might be able to wear if you drop some--read: more than a few-- pounds) or thrift (the Santa suit you found at the after-Christmas sale, which your husband will never wear) or shopping frenzy (the angel statuettes that looked so cute in the store but have yet to find a place in your home). Half of our belongings are stored in boxes, rarely seeing the light of day.
A cluttered home can make our lives feel so disorganized. We are late for work because we spend half an hour searching for the keys that are hiding beneath a half-read newspaper. We pay unnecessary late fees because we forget to pay bills that are hiding unnoticed in a pile of junk mail. Our eyes find no rest because there are haphazard piles and jam-packed displays everywhere we look.
Why are our homes cluttered? For many of us, it's because we hold on to all things indiscriminately (though we don't like to see it that way), thinking we may use them one day.
Nothing illustrates this more clearly for me than the many totes my husband, Jake, brought with him when moving from a college dorm room to the apartment we shared together in our first months of marriage. After I went through all the totes I brought, paring down and reorganizing my belongings, I decided to tackle his totes (with his permission, of course). In them, I found many relics of our college romance...notes I delivered to his campus mailbox, long letters sent during our summer apart, tickets to movies, playbills from our trips to the city. I was touched. He had kept everything I had ever given him, along with the entire paper trail of our relationship!
Then, reality set in. While he had held onto treasured mementos from our dating days, he had tossed them in huge tote boxes along with sloppy piles of class notes, textbooks, articles of clothing, and even trash. Yes, you read right--trash. My carefully worded, handwritten notes overflowing with mushy sentiments were being stored alongside candy wrappers, paper wads and crumpled plastic grocery store bags.
Not sure whether to be pleased that my husband had kept these mementos or upset about how they were being stored, I set about organizing the mounds of stuff that had piled up in our living room. When I was done, I had piles of bills, clothes, books, and more. When I proudly showed my husband all the work I had done in his absence and asked him to go through my organized stacks, I found that he preferred to leave things as they had been. Though I offered to organize his messy piles of class notes in binders according to class, he wished to leave them in tote boxes.
"What's the use of that?" I thought. "He's keeping all this stuff because he thinks he might use it one day, but how will he ever find what he's looking for in those disorganized heaps of rubbish?" His storage philosophy was nonsensical and inefficient. I had already organized the papers into a piles. A few short hours of sorting and hole punching would have provided an effective storage and retrieval system, but Jake wouldn't allow it.
Flash forward to the present time. Jake has only opened those tote boxes one time in the year since they were filled. He had to search for days to find what he needed--an old chemistry exam. My proposed filing system would have revealed the paper in minutes.
Sadly, most of us take the store-and-explore approach to stuff. We hang on to mementos, but instead of organizing them into scrapbooks and binders that can be neatly shelved and easily reviewed, we toss them in totes, never to be seen again. I speak from experience. I still have a box full of awards and trophies from elementary school through high school. I keep thinking, "Well, maybe when I have kids, they'll want to see this stuff." Maybe. But by then, this box will be trapped beneath totes full of holiday decorations, out-of-commission electronics, and pants that I'll be able to wear if I just lose the fifteen pounds I've been saying I'd like to lose for the past five years.
For years, I've had the habit of going through my totes once or twice annually. Every time, I pare down my collection a bit (finally getting rid of the slam book from middle school or the love letters sent by a long-forgotten boyfriend), but since I'm always adding things, my pile of stuff never gets smaller. This year, I am committing to paring down the piles of stuff and finding creative ways of highlighting the things I love and use while getting rid of the things that don't fit that bill.
Here are some helpful tips I've found along the way. I plan to incorporate some of these in the next few weeks. Hopefully you'll find them helpful, too.
- Keep a picture album filled with photos of items you'd like to remember (as opposed to boxes filled with stuff). When I first heard this tip, I thought it sounded silly, but now I get it. Think about it. Most objects are special, not in themselves, but because of the memories they help us recall. My fuzzy slippers labeled "Goody 2 Shoes," a gag gift from former coworkers, remind me of all the fun I had at my first real job. It's not about the stuff at all, the feel of the objects or their value or usefulness--it's about the memories associated with them. Clearing out all this useless stuff would help me highlight the objects that really mean something to me, like framed pictures of loved ones, the ship painting created by my artsy sister-in-law for my Navy Reserve officer husband, and the scented candles that remind me of Christmas every time they are lit.
- Create organized online photo books filled with favorite pictures. (This one is inspired by a conversation with my friend Lindsey.) Sites like Snapfish allow you to create memory books online and order hard copies of your creations. The style and price options are plentiful, so there's something for everyone. I plan to make ones for college years, our wedding, and one for every year of married life. Handmade scrapbooks are pretty, but I generally find that I don't have the time or patience they require. I know some people like to make albums for every vacation or birthday, but for me, that's just not a realistic goal. Year-in-review albums suit me better. Plus, paring down the photos will mean I that I am guaranteed to look fabulous in every single picture that makes the cut!
- Sell the good stuff online or at a local consignment shop. I've already listed some unwanted books on Amazon, but I still need to set aside time to list non-literary items and make a consignment appointment.
- Give away unneeded items that are still in good condition. My husband and I know several families that are in the process of adopting, and many of them have hosted or plan to host garage sale fundraisers. Helping parents and children be united while getting rid of clutter? Sounds like a great plan to me! Goodwill and Salvation Army stores also accept gently used items and usually offer convenient drop-off points. Last time I was at Goodwill, a gentleman working there actually helped me unload the items from my vehicle, making for a quick and easy delivery.
- Have old t-shirts from organizations and events made into t-shirt blankets (or make one yourself, if you have the skills or are willing to learn). For those who do not have the time, desire or ability to undertake such a project, consider hiring someone else to do the work for you. Rachel Rogers of Little Spinney creates high-quality t-shirt quilts using sets of 12 or 15 shirts. These durable treasures are full of memories and are suitable for everyday use. If you're up for a challenge, though, you may wish to pull out the Singer and craft something on your own. I'm hoping to make a few blankets myself this year--that is, if I can just figure out which tote is housing my sewing machine...
How are you planning to clear the clutter?
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