One of my friends likes to say, “Nothing like a house fire to ease into simplifying.” Reading a book about clutter-busting and also finding something I printed about clutter, I find similar ideas but with fewer flames. Basically, there’s something empowering about a blank slate.
As you may have guessed, we are once again trying to thin down and purge STUFF — something that seems a perpetual pastime in our house. This time it was prompted by a meltdown in West Edmonton Mall; Kiddo reached complete consumer overload and realized she had more than everything she needed. She suggested getting rid of stuff she no longer used at a yard sale. We agreed and, of course, decided to take another pass at our own stuff.
One checklist I printed out some time ago suggests asking oneself some questions including, “If I lost this item, would I replace it?” Not surprisingly, my answer is frequently, “probably not.” When we were filtering out our VHS movies, we gradually pitched them as we replaced them until we got to a point where we just pitched armloads and decided we would replace them later, as we could. Some we still have not replaced.
Worse is the stuff we have replaced but still have kicking around (old coffee makers, duplicate movies (oops), clothes, and so on). How about the boxes of stuff from the last yard sale that we pulled back inside because it was “too good to just give away” but is still costing us by taking up space? There’s just no excuse for this kind of clutter.
The biggest problem for me is the “if-then” clutter: stuff that I don’t have a use for right now but might later or stuff that needs something else to make it useful. One example that we are actually going to fix today is our computer/pvr combo. It has been sitting in the living room unused since we got our Shaw digital converter — the non-Shaw PVR does not play with the Shaw converter (typical) so we have been without PVR capability. About 8 weeks ago, I re-routed the second cable outlet to our bedroom so the PVR can go there and be useful instead of being an expensive dust-collector.
Also in the if-then category is box after box of craft supplies. Some of this will get used this year. I have a goal of a hand-made Christmas gift for each family member. However, I have to wonder, will I ever make soap or candles or work with plastic cross-stitch canvas? If I do, would it be so bad to start over with fresh supplies rather than have all this other stuff just sitting around? I think you can guess the answer.
BTW, if you enjoy looking at other people’s clutter, I highly recommend the photo stream and/or blog for Yard Sale Bloodbath. Very entertaining.