Clutter Busting

True confession (because that's what blogs are all about): I have not made another trip to Goodwill since I last mentioned it.  However, to encourage myself and you would-be chuckers out there, I will share the book that I was reading when I really started chucking (and started this blog).

Now, I have read a lot of books about getting rid of clutter, getting organized, time management, effectiveness, etc.  Each one of them got me to do something.  I'm not going to say this one takes the cake and renders all the others obsolete.  It is the Now book.  The book that has me motivated Now.  Brooks Palmer is so compassionate in his approach and has a lot of Zen exercises to get me in touch with my feelings about my stuff and to be gentle with myself (and yet, busting occurs).


What really drew me in to this book, though, was the combination of Palmer's kind awareness of what goes on for messies like me, and my own awareness about the parallels between my relationship with stuff and my relationship with food.  I am in treatment for binge-eating/compulsive overeating, and I found that with this book (more than any other), I was able to plug both of my addictions in and still have it make sense to me.  Sometimes I would go back and read several paragraphs substituting "food" for "clutter" and "eating" for "keeping" or "buying" and it resonated as written and with my substitutions.

Maybe that's more about me than it is about the book, but I've known for years that I binge on shopping and other activities, like I do on food.  I know that I cling to piles of stuff the same way I cram too many tasks into time the same way I can't stand white space when I'm making art the same way I use too many words (and can't resist parenthetical remarks) the same way I don't feel satisfied unless I'm overfull.  Reading this one book, I felt like I was doing therapy in multiple arenas.


Now, my dilemma.  I kept the book as long as I could from the library.  I want to go back and do every exercise.  Do I buy it because it will be truly useful?  Or would it just add to my clutter?  I think I will take the middle way and pick it up from the library again.



Clutter Busting: Letting Go of What's Holding You Back

Honoring the Process

Problem #1:

Lost my mind over getting rid of French books.  Entire declutter session derailed.

Solution:  Picked a hormonal fight with my husband.  Went on a date.  Slept on it.  The next day, write a blog instead.  Brought a box of books to Goodwill (chuck), none of them in French (keep).

Clutter Warning!  Brought 2 items home from Goodwill.  A shirt for the daughter (needed now) and a brand-spanking new pair of Converse tennies (which will fit probably within a year).

Problem #2:

Plastic bag of old tennis shoes hanging on the inside of the door to the front hall closet.  Why is it a problem?

• They are stinky
• They are so BIG that you can hardly shut the door
• I won't throw them away because I know they can be recycled 
• The oldest pair has been there for two years

Solution:  Used bag of shoes as an excuse to get out of the house, combining a trip to Goodwill with a trip to the Mall of America to drop shoes off at the Nike store.  Dropoff site is a little garbage can in the wall, clear to the ground so I can feel the satisfaction of seeing my old shoes pile onto other old shoes.  They will be turned into athletic surfaces.  (there is a nifty video)

Clutter Warning!  Because I can't stand to get rid of something that might be useful, we pulled all the shoelaces out.  They are in a pile on the couch waiting for me to find a home.  On the bright side, we walked out of MOA empty-handed.

The shoelaces are still stinky.

Problem #3:

"Your art with the clay and the yarn and the pastels is still here."  They gave it to me to take home after art therapy.  It was from my first session.  It represented an important process at the time, but it was ugly.  There were holes in the paper with torn cloth stuck in them and an orange Sculpey umbilical cord stuck to the paper.  I couldn't even show it to my artist mother because (a) it wasn't art, and (b) hello, umbilical cord!  It was mine.  I thought I had to walk out with it.  I wondered what I would do.  Were parts of it salvageable?  If I didn't take it, did that mean I was still in denial about the issues that came up while I worked on it?

Solution:  Fortunately, I was able to build on my previous successes.  I realized it belonged in the garbage before I even left the building.   I shoved it down the the paper towels in the bathroom.  I only have to keep the art I love.  And even that is not a "have-to."

Clutter Warning!  I will be creating a lot more art.  I am likely to love a lot of it.  Furthermore, my favorite art to do is collage.  So guess what kind of stuff collects, waiting to become collage?