The past few days, John and I have been rearranging furniture and reorganizing our little apartment (different couch, moved the table, etc.). This means that right now we have a TON of stuff in disarray. As many of my friends know, I am messy. (I'm trying to be better every day, but most days its a losing battle). John is messy, too. To compound this problem, we are both "savers" as opposed to "purgers". We tend to hang onto stuff FOREVER. So we live in a one bedroom apartment and we have probably 4x as much stuff that could comfortably and cleanly fit into our space. Pretty much every weekend recently has been spent trying to purge. We systematically get out some of our boxes of stuff (that we store in my parent's basement- thanks, guys!) and try to eliminate it. We have trash piles, D.I. piles, Ebay piles, put away piles... it's pretty funny to see some of the stuff we have kept. Then, we run out of steam and we are left with *fewer* boxes but boxes of stuff nonetheless. This battle for a simpler, more organized life has led me to have STUFF on the brain. I came across two great posts that kind of touch on consumerism (which is a big part of it all.) C Jane from C Jane Run writes about the vortex of online shopping and the case of "I want" that it gives you. Quimby at Feminist Mormon Housewives writes about her Year of Non-Consumerism. I've also been reading some organizational blogs for ideas...
Mostly, I want to be more mindful of what I buy and bring into my home. I can feel the tide starting to turn... now that our life is in a more normal schedule (no more campaigning) we have been able to really organize and use our small space efficiently. The kitchen, bathroom and bedroom have been completely reorganized. I feel that we will be able to pare down to the essentials soon. I feel like we need to get OUR stuff together before we even think about adding a baby and all of THAT stuff to the mix.
Anyway, long post, but what are your thoughts on conquering clutter and organizing stuff? What's your biggest challenge in staying tidy? (Mine for sure is laundry and papers!)
We have two big problems with tidiness: Sam and Lily.
ReplyDeletetheir main problems: 1) toys all over the friggin place 2) food all over the friggin place. They love to eat hot dogs under the bed, goldfish on the carpet, cookies *in* the bed, and bottles anywhere we let them.
Steve and I are no models of tidiess, either. But those two put the whole wide world to shame with their mess-making ability.
I saw that FMH post, too. On the one hand it made me a little crazy because the idea about caring THAT MUCH just hurt my brain. On the other hand, we've been so very cash-strapped lately that I thought it might be a good way to save money! We might try something this summer. maybe. We'll see.
;-)
Ooooooooh...I hate laundry too! I have no problem sorting it and putting the first few loads into the washer...but the part about pulling it out of the dryer and folding it?! Not so into it!
ReplyDeleteI am a big believer in simplifying life.....I tend to want to keep things but I also have learned over the years that I feel even more better if I make my life more simple....things, clutter, life worries, etc....there was an oprah show on about a week ago about this topic...it was very very interesting....good luck!
ReplyDeletecameron throws out all my clutter. i never throw anything away so it is good he helps me with it!
ReplyDeletehi barb! thanks for visiting my blog, however it was that you found it. i'd love to be blog friends. with only three more days of having a job, i could certainly have more blogs to read.
ReplyDeletei, too, saw the FMH post about "stuff." i wish i was that good about consumerism, but it's just so hard. i think the one thing stopping me from having more is the lack of space. although i have recently considered renting a storage unit and this would perpetuate the problem, not so much cure it. sigh.
good luck!
my cure for clutter...moving! just move and then you realize how much crap you have (I recently did this) it is awful - I definitly purged and boy does it feel good!
ReplyDeleteIf you're a keepsake kind of person, just photograph the stuff so you won't have to keep such a huge pile of pressed roses, concert tickets, cheese head hats, prom dresses, etc. The same memories are there to peruse, but no big boxes of junk.
ReplyDeletePeggy
P.S. Don't forget to date the pictures and name the people. The memory is the first to go.
Ours is papers!! Well, my husband's problem is papers, files, newpapers and magazines, mail, blah blah paper stacked everywhere! Makes. me. insane.
ReplyDeleteWe need to declutter but I get overwhelmed thinking about it and never know where to start. Ahh!