Monday, January 28, 2008

Cleaning Clutter

How I cleaned clutter our of my life and a few tips to go with it.
(Tips listed below)

I grew up as a pack rat. I wanted to keep everything that had sentimental value, things I thought I could use later, things I thought were just too cute that I couldn't get rid of it and therefore found a way to "make fit" in my room.

I accumulated quite a bit and actually more than I could handle. In high school I made a point every summer to clean out my entire room. I re-arranged decorations, cleaned out drawers, my closet, shelves, and under my bed. The ladder stayed in my room for about 3-4 weeks. It was fun and felt good to organize. I often got overwhelmed at times though. I still was keeping to much because of all of those reasons at the top of the page and I was trying way to hard to make everything fit. I had pictures, old school projects, artwork, things people drew or made for me, sentimental nick nacks......all kinds of stuff.

When I moved to college I was happy to have a new place to start over with decorating. I left the clutter at my house and took only what I needed to my dorm room and later...apartment. Even over time at my apartment I had just a little more than I cared to. That problem was mostly old bank statements, papers, notes from class, and other paper things that I just either needed to get rid of or organize somehow.

Fortunately, I met someone to date who was big on simplicity and only keeping what he used or needed. He had a few sentimental items and things from when he was a child, but not quite as much as me. When we got married and combined our stuff we had to come up with a new organization system. Our apartment had all kinds of clutter piles or drawers. It was when we moved into our house about 6 months after being married that we tackled the problem.

I've had a few influences since then that have changed my perspective on what to keep and what to get rid of.

1. Oprah Show- I saw a show within the past year about a family who kept EVERYTHING and had to have a professional come in with a team of people to help them get rid of stuff and organize their house.

2. Book- Living the Simple Life: A Guide to Scaling Down and Enjoying More by Elaine St. James (She also writes another one called Simplify Your Life).

3. My parents house- And they know I think this. It has more decorations and stuff than I care to have.

4. My husband

5. Other communties


1. The Oprah Show

It inspired me to write down a few things that this professional said. I can't remember his name right now. I'll have to go back and find it. Here's a few tips he gave. They aren't all word for word. I tried my best to write what he said.

  • Decide that you want to change.
  • Your stuff does not define you.
  • Look at your stuff in a new way. Do you need this to survive? Is this who you are? Is there really room for this here or am I just trying to make it fit? Is it logical to keep this?
  • See the vision you want and stick to the limits.
  • Respect the limits of your space
  • Honor your stuff. Display with honor.
  • Clutter can tear your family apart. Your home is a place to be with family. Allow your mind to be on the family.
  • Too much stuff can be a health hazard. You aren't able to clean properly. Your stuff is not worth your health.
  • Too much stuff robs you of a peace of mind.
  • Freedom of stuff. Stuff or your life? It's a choice you have to make everyday.

2. Living the Simple Life

The book by Elaine St. James, Living the Simple Life, was very good for me. Not all of the chapters applied to me, but plenty of them did. She gave very logical and easy to do tips. Each of the chapters are very short. By that I mean you can each one in less than 5 minutes. Some are only 1-2 pages. I'm currently reading this book to my mother on the phone. It's nice to share ideas on the topic. I highly recommend the book.

3. My Parents House

Well, I had the vision of what I did not want my house to look like because I knew that my mother's decorating style was not how I would prefer to decorate my own home. I like my things a little bit simpler. That's fine, not everyone is the same. My husband is even more simpler than I am. If it were up to him we wouldn't have any curtains, nick nacks, things on a table, and maybe 1-2 decorations on the wall in each room. The house would be pretty empty :) Having the vision of what I want is absolutely necessary. It helps me to set goals for myself and motivates me to get rid of more. What I keep fits in the limits we set. I'm still to this day trying to clean out my room at my parents house. I haven't been able to clean the whole thing in one visit.

4. My Husband

Scott has been quite a good motivator. Sometimes I do tire of hearing, "Can we get rid of this?", but I know he's trying to help the household and has great intentions. When we moved into our house and got everything unpacked, we decided to tackle one room a week.

Scott tried very hard to be patient with me. He would ask, "Do we really need this?" and I really had to give it thought. We also worked together to come up with organizational systems. It's a good time to get to know each other and work together as a family. This also will help us teach our children from an early age to organize and not keep too much clutter.

We keep a file cabinet for important documents. We have labels for each folder which includes, Child medical, our medical, insurance, bank, savings account, investments, car (for each one), auto insurance, internet/cable/phone, water, electricity, property tax, memberships, and Scott's work. We also keep a separate drawer for warranty info.

I subcontract music therapy and work in client homes. I also have a drawer at home in our file cabinet for organizing my interventions/activities, etc. I keep a small portable, locked file box for any private info for work.

We try to come up with systems that allow us to minimize the amount of stuff we have on the floor or cabinets. It also makes it easier to dust (I'm highly allergic).

If I'm going to open the mail then I have to do something with it which includes recycling, filing, mailing back response, etc. If I don't then piles build and so does irritation for Scott. I try to remember that I'm not only invading my own space, but his space too. If I can't take care of it right away then I don't open it at that time and leave it in the mail spot.

We also have a separate can for recycling right next to the trash can downstairs and upstairs. That helps me to not leave it sitting out if I don't want to keep running up and down the stairs.
Scott and I appreciate that we can have a feeling of freedom by not having too much clutter around the house and that we work together as a team to achieve our goals.

5. Other communities

One other thing that helps me to look at my stuff differently is thinking about cultures or communities that live more simply and are still very happy. Some choose to live that way and some do because they can't afford to have a lot. Either way, I remember that someone could be using the thing that I'm keeping for a "not very good" reason or I just plain don't need it to be happy.