This business of de-cluttering is a difficult one. Especially when one is genetically engineered to be a pack rat! I come by my hoarding tendencies honestly: my Momma was a packrat, her momma was a packrat. I don’t know how many generations it goes back.
See? That’s a family picture right there!
Actually, if you follow anyone’s family tree you will eventually get to a group of people who hoard. We are all descended from hunting and gathering tribes. Back then, if you didn’t squirrel away food and supplies, you wouldn’t survive!
These days, there isn’t really any need to stockpile “stuff,” even though I occasionally see on the television and on the internet that some unknow global “disaster” is on the way. I just keep things, because I don’t know how to throw them away!
I keep reading books and articles about de-cluttering and simplifying in the hopes that I’ll get inspiration. There are three “magic questions” that seem to crop up repeatedly. These are questions I’m supposed to ask myself, as I look at one of the items in my vast array of…rubble.
- “Do I use it regularly?” If the answer to that question is “yes,” then of course I get to keep it. If it’s a seasonal item, I’m supposed to store it somewhere out of the way. If that item is worn out, broken, or past its prime (like the ragged towels in the bathroom), I’m supposed to go ahead and get rid of it.
- “Do I love it?” I’m supposed to decide if it gives me joy to have it. Give me a break here: I’m a packrat! Just having stuff gives me joy! But, that’s not what the experts want from me. They want me to think about the object. I mean, do I really love that ugly macramé that Aunt La Verta made, or am I just keeping it because I loved Aunt La Verta? There are better ways to remember her (and quite honestly, she probably would be appalled to be remembered for her macramé!). Even if it is something that I use regularly, if I don’t love it, I shouldn’t keep it.
- “Am I keeping it because it will come in handy someday?” Well, yeah! I mean, someday I might need an oscilloscope! What if one breaks? I need the back-up oscilloscope? [Note: that is a "gentle" jab at my husband. I don't have an oscilloscope. I have the punch bowl that I've never used in thirty years!] Nope. The experts tell me that if I am keeping it for “someday,” that day will never get here. I have to get rid of it, if that is my justification.
I’m beginning to despise those “experts!”
This journey began on a separate blog (you can click here to read About Out Of Chaos), but that wasn’t really simplifying was it? I moved all of the posts to This Eclectic Life under the category Out Of Chaos. I’ll be adding more from time to time. I hope you join me.
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