Sunday, November 04, 2007

Out of Control

I just watched a clean house marathon and am thankful for the common sense god gave me to keep my house uncluttered. I know I’m being judgmental but the people on these shows need some serious psychological help. Serious help that only a mental professional can give them. They also need style help, mirrored walls? On purpose? Don’t get me wrong I collect stuff, clothes especially but twice a year I go through my closet and just get rid of stuff I haven’t worn in a year.

I have that “you just never know” feeling about some of my stuff but my house is about a 1,000 square feet and I just can’t afford to keep everything. If something is coming in, something has to come out otherwise it’ll have that stuffed look. Stuffed isn’t cute nor does it make any sense.

I just did a complete reorganization of my home office/guest room and threw out a bunch of papers and stuff I’d collected since 1999, when I moved to DC. If I hadn’t looked at it since I moved into my house in 2003 it was out the door. Clearly I didn’t need it. Some of the “stuff” I couldn’t part with because of the "you never know" element I placed into small storage tins that fit on my book shelf so they’re tucked away until I need it, if ever.

I have to fight the pack rat feeling because my parents struggle with it as well and that’s one habit of their’s that I do NOT want. So I will continue to fight the urge to keep stuff and make sure my house is clutter free.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've done a good job keeping clutter out of my life too. my husband complains because I'm always giving stuff to Goodwill or throwing things out. My mom was crazy about keeping a neat environment in our house when we were growing up and the "no clutter" thing stuck with me.

My struggle is with general cleaning. In my mom's perfect world I'd clean my toilets and vacuum my whole house everyday. The closer I get to giving birth to my first child, the closer I get to actually doing those things. I never thought I'd consider using a cleaning service, but I promise I'm this close to hiring somebody.

Anonymous said...

I love Clean House as well. Most packrats do have some sort of emotional issues that cause them to hoard. I had an aunt who was a packrat. Finally my mom and another aunt had an intervention of sorts about the situation. She did improve but it wasn't an easy task.

I'm a neat freak and depise clutter. I'm always cleaning out the closets or the basement or something. Clutter and/or holding onto things you don't need or use feels like negative energy to me.

Heart Drops said...

I'm one of those people who want to keep everything 'just in case'. My grandmother is the same way. I hate that I have that habit though. I do get a great feeling when I clean out my closet and papers every now and then. Current Essence has a great article on how long you should keep papers.

Anonymous said...

Clean House is fun. I am a habitual purger. I purge clothes every season and I love throwing unnecessary things away!

Anonymous said...

Yes!!! About the need for psychological help. Have you seen the specials on TLC or Discovery or one of the those networks about the "Hoarders"? Whoa! That's some scary stuff!

The OE said...

Removing clutter makes it easier for a secret agent to tell if anything has been tampered with

Serenity3-0 said...

I can't stand clutter either. Nor having things out of place. I especially hate it when I have guests over and they aren't neat...