Hoarder.
Clutterer.
That’s me. Although not to the extent that you would call it a “disorder” or “syndrome” ….. as such. Well my poor long suffering hubby might disagree slightly with that statement!
Well, I’m happy to throw stuff out…..eventually. Like after about 20 years…..or so. (She says sheepishly)
But, believe it or not – I hate my own clutter. It’s like self-loathing. I’ve already done two sweeps of my house to de-clutter it – and it’s still bursting at the seams! I seriously do NOT know where I managed to stash the stuff that I got rid of during those de-clutter sessions. And I don’t recall replacing it with other stuff either!
I have numerous clean-outs/ups etc and each time I have one, I find new places to put things. And then I can’t find them! So I can feel the need for Sweep Number Three coming on!
And to help me (and all you other Closet Clutterers out there bemoaning the fact that you never have enough storage space…yes, you know who you are…), I found this wonderful little gem on the inter-web-net-thingy……
Nine Quick Tips to Identify Clutter
‘How many things are there which I do not want.’ ~Socrates
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project.
Lately, I’ve been on a clutter-clearing frenzy. For me, as for most people, outer order contributes to inner calm, and sweeping away a bunch of unloved, unused stuff has given me a huge happiness boost.
As I sifted through our possessions, I identified nine questions to ask myself when I was confronted with a questionable object. This list helped me decide what to keep and what to toss, recycle, or give away.
- Does this thing work? I was surprised by how hard it was to admit that something was broken and couldn’t be fixed—say, our dud toaster or my daughter’s frog clock. Why was I hanging on to these things?
- Would I replace it if it were broken or lost? If not, I must not really need it.
- Does it seem potentially useful—but never actually gets used? Something like an oversized water-bottle, a corkscrew with an exotic mechanism, or a tiny vase. Or duplicates. How many spare glass jars did I need to keep on hand?
- Was I “saving” it? Leaving bath gel in the tube, or hoarding my favorite stationery in a desk drawer, was as wasteful as never using these things. Spend out!
- Does it serve its purpose well? For example, we have a lot of “cute” kitchen objects that don’t really work.
- Has it been replaced by a better model? Inexplicably, I’m in the habit of keeping a broken or outmoded version of tech gadgets, even after they’ve been replaced. Pointless.
- Is it nicely put away in an out-of-the-way place? One of my Secrets of Adulthood is: Just because things are nicely organized doesn’t mean they’re not clutter. No matter how tidily a thing is stored, if I never use it, why keep it?
- Does this memento actually prompt any memories? Sometimes I automatically keep things that fall into the category of “mementos,” assuming that they’d set off some sort of response, but they don’t. The attendance trophy from my daughter’s pre-school sports class—out.
- Have I ever used this thing? I was absolutely shocked to find, when I started looking, how many things we owned that we had never once used. Many were gifts, true, but I promised myself we’d either put these things into use within a few weeks or give them away.
Please note:- These are not my words (although I would have been very pleased with myself had I thought of them!) and this is the website I got them from. Some cool words of wisdom and I hope you enjoy reading his blogs! Just copy and paste into your browser…..(Sorry, I haven’t worked out how to make a proper link yet, so if you know how – I’d be much obliged if you would tell me….)
http://zenhabits.net/identify-clutter/
And with that – I will leave blogland and go do something constructive…..like de-clutter my house……
Have a happy day!
sandypandybeads blog 
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