My house has too much stuff in it. Clutter, clobber, excess items, bits and pieces, crap, maybe even mess... call it what you will, there is too much of it. Too much stuff. It is a real drag and is bringing me down, killing my mood, destroying my mojo. I feel drained both looking at it and thinking about tidying it, and so it stays because that option seems easier than actually dealing with it all. A few months ago, I saw an organisation expert on Oprah and he said that your house is a reflection of you. I felt shattered and went into a bit of a funk, because my house is not me. The piles of stuff, the things without places, the chaos and lack of order..... that is not me at all. I am not messy. I am not cluttered. I love order, cleanliness, function, ease of use. I love surfaces.
When I lived alone, my house was tidy. Everything had a place. I could not only see my surfaces, but could actually use them, too! However, when I think back to that time, despite the order and cleanliness of my house I have to admit that it had too much stuff in it. The cupboards and drawers were all full. There were boxes of things under the beds. When I moved into this house with JK, all my stuff moved too. I didn't go through it and cull things - it was all just piled into the back of the truck and brought here, and I found new places to put it. Now the house is chockers. The cupboards are full to overflowing, there are no clean surfaces, there are lots of things without places and there are piles of stuff in every room.
I have been attempting to get on top of it for a while now, but I feel like my progress has been limited. I keep setting myself small goals and making deals with myself but I keep looking around and seeing the stuff - piles of it on the floor, on the couches, on the benches. Bits and pieces of random crap that have been acquired with the best of intentions but are now surplus to requirements, broken, unused, unwanted, daggy, etc are in every room of my house (with the possible exception of the toilet).
I have seen that TV show 'Hoarders', and I am nothing like that. Some people may even look around my house and wonder what I am so stressed about - they may say that it looks 'lived in'. I have been thinking that if I keep doing little tiny bits at a time and then maintaining those areas that have been done, eventually the whole house will be orderly. The progress, however, is too slow for me. I am starting to lose it.
I am writing this on my laptop, sitting in my lounge room. This could be a really nice room - it has comfy lounges, a big TV, lots of DVDs and books on shelves, and some nice art on the walls. Bringing down the whole tone of the room, though, are a number of piles of stuff and things that should not be in here such as the frame of a child's playpen, a clothes airer, a pile of a dozen or so pairs of socks that my youngest son has outgrown, a clothes rack with five suits hanging on it that need to be dry cleaned, a few pieces of Tupperware that I brought down from the kitchen a number of days ago with the intention of listing them on ebay, a four-carton package of Ritz crackers, a pile of raincoats that JK and his girls wore to a rained-out concert last weekend, a couple of large plastic crates with Christmas presents in them, a large bag full of rolls of wrapping paper and other gift wrapping paraphernalia, the bag of bits and pieces that I brought home from my office when I went on leave nearly nine months ago (!), a sports bag, a book of California roadmaps (we were there and hired a car in April 2010), a very cluttered coffee table, the hoods from both the baby car seats, a fluro vest, a broken ghd hair straightener that I have been meaning to send away for repairs for a couple of years........ Some of these things could be put away in very little time, but it is typical of just about every room in the house. I had told myself that I would get this room sorted by December so that we could put the Christmas tree up. I haven't. I want to, but I haven't.
JK and I discussed it this morning and we have decided to commence The Cleanup Project. I said that I would be happy if the house could be orderly and with a place for everything by my next birthday (July 2012). This is, I am sure, an attainable deadline. To assist with meeting it, we have developed some rules, as follows:
Rule #1
At least one thing will be removed from the house every day. Removed from the house includes putting it in the bin, selling it on ebay, donating it to charity, returning it to its rightful owner if it does not belong to us, putting it into storage to sell at the next Baby and Kids' Market, etc.
Rule #2
If a non-consumable item is brought into the house, at least two things must be thrown away that day. The house does not have the capacity to continue to absorb stuff.
No room, cupboard or drawer shall be spared. I am not going to let it beat me!
This blog will track the items that are removed from the house, and will also serve as an outlet for my ramblings, frustrations and occasional tantrums about the stuff. Here we go.....
Item removed from the house:
Broken baby monitor
Method:
Put in the bin
This monitor has been broken for at least a couple of years. When I realised it wasn't working anymore, I bought a new one....... and put the broken one into the cupboard. Why did I do that? Madness!!! Anyway, today it has gone into the bin. Well, most of it has. I can't find the receiver at present as Mr B was playing with it and has put it somewhere. It will turn up in a day or two and then it, too, shall be binned.
I am back at work in five weeks - I wonder how much I can accomplish by then??
I think housework is the reason most women go to the office. ~Heloise Cruse
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