I haven’t read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, but I find its rise in popularity very interesting.
I’m happy for the attention clutter is getting, because I truly believe that when we fill our lives with the irrelevant, there isn’t room for much of anything else. I am one of the best pile eradicators around. And I am committed, often to my family’s dismay, to minimizing the role that stuff plays in our lives.
But I worry about clutter‘s new-found popularity, because it feels to me like clutter is the latest scapegoat on the block.
Which is probably a huge relief for gluten. Poor gluten has been taking a hit.
And my fundamental problem with this is that it feels like a fad.
We’ve named clutter as the new thing that is making life unbearable. We are at WAR! With our stuff. And if we can focus all of our energy into getting rid of clutter, then and only then, can we live a content, healthy, meaningful life.
Hold on just a minute. Clutter is the cause of all of our problems?
Let’s at least call it what it is.
We are at WAR!
We are at war with ourselves.
No, no, no, you say, It’s clutter.
Meh. I’m not buying it.
The question is not how do we get rid of the clutter in our lives, the question is why do we have so much stuff in the first place?
What hole are we trying to fill? What’s going on behind our accumulation? And once we acquire, why is it so hard to let go? That’s where the work need to be done. I can give you all the tactics in the world to sort clutter, but the only thing that will release you from clutter is a strategy to cut it off at the source. Otherwise it’s just a one time fix for an ongoing problem.
Like a weed taking over your yard, if you don’t address it at the root, it will return. Like those ten pounds you can’t seem to shake, if you don’t fix your relationship with food, they will always find a way back.
But you still probably want to know how I avoid the accumulation of clutter.
In our house, I’ve found three sources of clutter:
1) Things that you use that don’t have a home or a system.
2) Things that you don’t use that you’ve convinced yourself you will use some day.
3) Things that you don’t use that you’ve attached emotional value to.
My home is clutter free because…
1) We only keep what we use on a regular basis, and we give those things a home or a system.
2) A the end of every day, I return things to their home.
3) I give everything that we don’t use away. Everything.
There really is no magic or secret to getting rid of clutter (except maybe a pinch of ruthlessness). Like anything else, it takes self-awareness and discipline and a fair amount gentleness. Like kicking any habit that doesn’t serve you, some days are better than others.
It’s not a one time eradication or clean out. It’s a shift over time to devaluing things and the role they play in your life.
Even being fully aware of what causes clutter in our home, there are still some sticky areas living with kids.
Stay tuned for my next clutter post: How I Keep Kid Clutter Under Control.
When Kaly doesn’t have her nose in a book, she wrangles and referees two elementary age boys and blogs about her humorous efforts to lead a mindful, connected life. She’s the author of Good Move: Strategy and Advice for Your Family’s Relocation, a book about the craziness of moving with kids. Her writing has been featured on sites such as Mamalode, The Mid, In The Powder Room, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and Scary Mommy to name a few. You can find her on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.
Leave a Reply