I'm Not A Hoarder

I bought the book "It's All Too Much" by Peter Walsh yesterday while scooping up some much needed supplies (tacks, spiral notebooks, and pencils - where the hell did they all go anyway??? - among other school items the kids needed; it wasn't much).   I bought the book, because I have a tiny problem with stuff - and unloading it.  I needed someone other than my significant other and kids to not tell me, "we might need that one day" as I try to put stuff in the rubbish bin, donation bin, or actually store it to decide in six months what to do with "it".  I needed someone to tell me it's okay to detatch from under the piles of rubbish. 


The truth is:

• There's only pockets of this kind of "hoarding" going on in this house

• I'm not losing sleep over it either way, but . . . 

I'd like to get those pockets under control . . . especially before we move again.  Y'all know we'll move again, whether it's in 2012 or a bit later . . . it's going to happen.

I woke early and unloaded my crap drawer in the kitchen, which Peter calls "the junk drawer".  He is so much nicer about it than I.  So, my junk drawer, as it were, is cleaned out . . . for now it's a storage drawer until Chief and I go out and buy a wonderful desk from where I can do the "office" and "administration" duties of this household.  No more using my counter space for a desk, that always looks crowded, cluttered, and frustrates me when I'm trying to cook.  Tomorrow, to finish this project (as far as I can w/out said desk), I will clean off this table (being used as a desk in the master bedroom - I know, I know.  Peter says to make your room your room and nothing more, but space downstairs isn't available and I don't find a desk something that gets in the way of romance, ahem) and set up my office here (bringing up the envelopes, stamps, address book, stationery, and all that "junk").

What the heck am I going to do with that big, empty drawer?  LINEN storage, that's what.  It's a perfect spot for my placemats, one table cloth, and napkins.  Hurrah!

Less frustration is like heaven to me. 

The next job I wish to tackle that frustrates me a little less than the former:  my crafty rolly carts in the dining room.  And, the table.  I'm going to organize the stuff under the stairs (meaning:  make decisions about keeping it, finding a place for it outside storing it, or throw it out/donate it) and roll that stuff under the stairs.

I know, I know.   Peter said to get rid of stuff you don't use in six months to a year.  I agree, but . . . I do make cards now and again, and, increasingly, my kids are using the stuff for school projects - there is no waste at this time . . . but it does not have to sit directly under our noses 24/7.  Also, it will de-clutter our dining room and make it look nice and not like an embarrassment to me.  As far as the scrap book stuff, I'm really leaning toward hucking it all out.  However, it was all neatly organized into a very big bin before we moved to deal with later.  I told Chief today my plan for it is this:  essentially, if Crickles graduates high school before I crack that lid open and get moving on it, it will all go.  Either way, the pictures will get organized into those shoebox storage containers or scrap booked before or at that time I have to make that decision.  It's a good plan for us and we aren't frustrated by that. 

The third most annoying place in our house:  my closet.  I need to purge clothes, stuffed animals (Beanie Babies anyone? - it's embarrassing!), and decide what to do with the less than a dozen Precious Moments figurines I have (and really like) that for seventeen years we've been saying we'll buy a curio for them and never have done.  It is not top priority and storing them seems like such a waste.  Besides, I feel like I'm getting too old for cutie things, you know?  But, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Then, purging stuff the kids can't fit, don't want, etc..  This includes (GULP.  Heart palpitations of great pain.) books. 

Oh!  I said it. The books.  I won't force the book separation, but I will ask why they want to keep any childhood books that could make other little kids happy.  I have a mint condition set of those Bible Story books (remember those ones in the doctor's offices when you were little with the blue covers?).  Yeah.  I have a whole set. 

Reality is this:  I do not know if saving things for future grandchildren is all that prudent.  I may not have any.  I can't predict those things.  I can assume one of my kids might have children, but even if they do, is it unfair of me to burden them with the decisions to deal with the stuff at that time? 

I recommend Peter's book for anyone that has trouble kicking stuff to the curb . . . whether it is just a desk top, closet or something more, like, your whole house.  Now, if my problem were my whole house, I'd just die inside.  The point to organizing is getting the peace you get when you know where everything is, you can actually use and enjoy what you have because it's not in some storage unit across town . . . it really is true, that, the less you have, the more you have.

So, 2010 is the year of organizing.  It also means, not bringing new junk into the house. 

There's the rub.