An Unnatural Obsession

I  knew unequivocally that I was a pack rat.   I had to get a grip.  But every time I thought I would clear out a drawer, a closet, or, heaven forbid,  an entire room I would declare everything way too essential and valuable to cull.  So, I mostly spent that time wandering helplessly through my house absolutely married to every item in it and in the end kinda shifting it around and then putting it back.

How did this happen!?  It’s not like I came home one day and decided that I’d rather fill my house with obsolete items and clutter than have a home I can relax in.  But, where to begin, how to begin?  I knew it would take work to gain back the lost territory.

And then I found the most life changing book for a pack rat that I have ever read and became #1 reviewer for the book on Amazon.

If you want to change forever your unnatural obsession with stuff read this book!

I have seen a lot of magazine lists like: “get 3 bags and go around a room putting things in ‘keep’, ‘giveaway’ and ‘trash’  and that is a good idea but until I read this book my mind was not changed.  It was when I read about how to view my stuff, the direction of my life, my relationship with my stuff that I was finally cured.  After getting your mind right, Morgenstern asks these four questions to keep you focused.

They are worth printing out so that you can read through them as you work through your house:

“How much space or time would you free up if you were to release the obsolete items?

“How difficult would it be to let go of the obsolete items?”

“Is it invigorating to my life right now?”

“What practical value does this item provide?”

These questions kept me on track and I am now down to bare bones in my house.  So, as an easy example, I had a large tub of rubber stamps that I had collected for making cards etc. and had not used them for years and yet I could not make myself get rid of them.  I had spent good money on them, I might stamp again in about twenty years.  I ran down the set of questions.

How much space would I free up?  A large box size space in my closet.

How difficult would it be to let go?  Not very, in fact it would be a relief.

Does it invigorate my life?  No, in fact I felt guilty that I wasn’t using them and didn’t plan to.

What practical value did the stamps have?  None, I never planned to stamp cards again.  I don’t have to forever more keep those stamps just because I once upon a time liked stamping.

It was that simple and then I listed them on ebay and shipped them off to the happy buyer.

I even went through family photos and YES! I threw out family photos, probably half!  Are you gasping in horror??  Would anyone like to be invited to my house to look at a large trunk full of family photos?  Face it, I tell myself, nobody wants to look at the family photos, at least not that many! So all those blurry ones, the ones that make me look fat and ugly  went in the trash.

The other holy grail that was difficult to tackle were the kids’ projects, the cute little ornaments they made when they were five and never get put on the tree or even taken out of the Christmas box, yep, even those went in the trash.  It helped that those five year old children are nearing thirty and laugh at the idea of having to be burdened with the keepsakes I’ve kept all these years.

My other stashed item was old magazines.  Having them made me feel like I had to extract all the recipes, all the clever decorating ideas when the reality was that I was not ever going to make those recipes or implement all those decorating ideas.  The few could be yanked out and reduced to two folders: recipes and decorating.

And catalogs?  For heaven’s sake, don’t save catalogs; order it now or throw it out- NOW!

The other pivotal books that I highly recommend are It’s All Too Much by Peter Walshand the other by Peter Walsh is, Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat.

Peter Walsh takes you through each room of your house to help you determine its purpose.  He encourages you not to hold on to things you don’t love in the hope that they will appreciate in value.  A great reality check is ebay.

By the time you are done decluttering your house it should take no more that five minutes to tidy and clean up a room; if it takes longer there’s too much stuff in there.  And just because you decluttered once does not mean you’re done.  Vigilance is key, clutter creeps back.

Walsh covers every excuse you can dream up:  I might need it someday, It’s too important to let go of, It’s worth a lot of money, My house is too small (you should move to a larger place, and I mean NOW, or get rid of some of your stuff.)

Walsh gives you a month by month calendar for keeping your house clutter free forever.  For example in April- explore the black hole.  Tackle the storage areas, discard items no longer needed.

June- tackle kids’ spaces: closets, toys, books.

And January?  Purge decorations.  Use the right containers to store what you keep and label them.

And then what?  Well, then you will have time to sit and read a book, take a walk, make an incredible meal, play cards with your children, the sky’s the limit.

Here’s to getting your mind right and a New Year with time for your passions!