Organized Clutter

Posted by Dianne | 0 comments

A few years back, we lived in a two-story, 1,127 square foot house. We had three bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen, living room, and dining room. Since it was built during an era (1895) when wardrobes were likely quite small, comparatively speaking, it was extremely lacking in closet space. When we moved in, we had a 6-month-old son, two cats, and a dog. The house had plenty of space – it was about 200 square feet larger than our previous home. Sometime during the ensuing 11½ years, we had another son, gained a home-based rubber stamping business, and a multitude of other things.

I was able to live with the chaos and clutter while I was still working outside the home full time. After all, I was only home from dinner until bedtime during the week, and just a portion of the weekend. Then I was blessed to leave my job and stay home with my boys. Once I started living there full-time, the excess stuff became more of an issue. Much more. I realized that I needed to do a better job of organizing everything. It was time to implement that old adage, “A place for everything, and everything in its place.” While we didn’t have a lot of closet space, there was storage in the eaves of our steeply-gabled roof, which I was sure would be the key to a better organized home.

I spent an inordinate amount of time buying various-sized plastic totes, re-boxing items, and moving them to assorted areas of the house. I was sure that I could find the ideal storage places, and if I really had it together, I might even have a card file or notebook that would index all of my stored items for easy retrieval. Along the way, I also purchased magazines, books, and anything else that promised me I could be better organized. It was just a matter of finding the right system and implementing it.

It seemed that I came up with as many organizing methods and plans as days in those ensuing years. Each one got off to a grand beginning, only to fizzle out before coming into fruition.

During this time, there were two defining moments that changed the way I view home organization. The first happened in a casual conversation with a friend of mine. Each week, she prepared a meal for the residents of a shelter for victims of domestic violence. She told me how these women often had to begin life over with absolutely nothing. They may have barely gotten out of their situation with the clothes on their backs. I also found out from my friend that these women could receive vouchers to shop at a local thrift store for the many things they would need. Maybe I could help them by donating to this store.

I began to view the bounty in my cupboards differently. Was this extra set of mixing bowls something that I actually used, or just thought I might use? Would it better serve another woman who was trying to start her life anew? The answers came quite easily, as I winnowed the excess out of my kitchen.

The second moment occurred while attempting (yet again) to follow the Fly Lady’s plan of action. Her thoughts on clutter?

“You can’t organize clutter; you can only get rid of it.”

Aha! I spent all those years attempting to organize the clutter, not realizing that the problem wasn’t in my system, the problem was that there was more stuff than space. Once I grasped that concept, it became much easier to get rid of the things I had been holding onto. Instead of continuing to think, “This might come in handy,” the query changed to, “Could someone else benefit more from this than me?” and “Do I really need or use it? AND does it have a home?”

Those questions become the framework through which I was able to eliminate some of the abundance of possessions I’d acquired. A wonderful thing began to happen. I had room for what was important. I found that organizing was a lot easier when there was less “stuff” to organize. I also gained an internal peace when I opened a cupboard and actually had access to the item I needed to use.

All the organizing strategies in the world – and there are many – will do nothing for you until the overflow of belongings is addressed. I realize there are people who have a handle on this, but for a vast majority of us, we have more than we could ever hope to use in our lifetimes. Let’s share the wealth, open up some space, both physically and mentally, so that we can better organize what’s left and what matters.

For further reading: I just received the most recent issue of Debt-Proof Living and the main theme is about clutter. Even without a subscription, you can read the current issue by clicking on the link in her left sidebar.

Dianne is in the third year of homeschooling with her two middle school boys, ages 14 and 12. She’s been joyfully married for 21+ years. She continually seeks to balance the many aspects of life in a way that glorifies the Lord. In her writing, Dianne shares organizational strategies for the homeschooling journey. Visit her blog at Bunny Trails.