Confession of a Clutterholic

I create clutter.  I am not sure why, I don’t do it on purpose.  In fact I really hate clutter.  I hate everything about it.  I hate having drawers so full that you can’t find anything.  I hate having mountains of stuff that I never use.  I am a minimalist at heart, but somehow I always end up with clutter – with crap that I don’t need and will never use.  But I am also a die hard sentimentalist.  Which means I can’t even throw away a scrap of paper without getting teary-eyed about “that one time”.   Do you see my problem?  I am beginning too . . .

I think my problem starts with my love of shopping, combined with my waste not want not attitude.   I feel like a terrible wasteful person any time I throw something away.  So instead I stuff my life into drawers.  The dozens of scarfs I amassed in college when I thought I was a scarf person – stuffed in a drawer.  Lotions that I use and buy in mass when they go on sale -stuffed in a drawer.  Items I have no idea why I am keeping but don’t want to look at anymore – stuffed under my bed.  Old Halloween costumes I will likely never wear again – stuffed in the back of my closet (looking at you giant peacock skirt).  The sombrero I got at Chevys for my 21st birthday – stuffed in the trunk of my car.

I cleaned out about two garbage bags from my already small closet, only to find that my closet was still too full.  My life is still too full.  I don’t need all of this stuff, and furthermore I don’t want it.  I am a firm believer that we need to have margins in our life.  Margins of time, space, and our future.  We need to have room to grow, room to breathe, and room to rest.  I have found that the best things in life happen in the margins. It is time I start creating margins in my space.

Maybe I am getting spring cleaning fever a bit early, but I can’t wait until spring to get here.  So I am going to spend my day getting rid of crap and hopefully start living a more free and spacious life.  So here is my plan of attack for today.

My decluttering goals:

– Get rid of clothes that I haven’t worn in the last year;

– Stop using the trunk and backseat of my car as a storage facility (this one makes       me want to cover my eyes and do a walk of shame);

– Stop hiding things I don’t want under my bed, including getting rid of said items that are currently hiding under my bed;

– Get rid of bathroom/hair/nail/girly products that I will never use because I don’t even like the product;

Whew, that is a lot to do in one day, but it needs to be done.  Here goes nothing.

Do you also struggle with amassing clutter?  Tell me your struggles – strength in numbers after all.  I think once we can identify what it is that causes us to create clutter, it becomes that much easier to avoid it.  After all you can’t fight a war if you don’t know who your enemy is.

Or, are you a master declutterer, who would care to leave some tips?  Please do, my comment section is open to all.

Happy Sunday and wish me the best as I dig myself out of clutter!

January 31, 2016January 31, 2016 by lorirensink Categories: Life, UncategorizedTags: Clutter, confessions, decluttering, life, margins, mess, space 11 Comments