I have a love-hate relationship with stuff. I am, by nature, a neotoma albigula, more commonly known as a “pack rat” (see photo). Yet I yearn to simplify my life by shedding all the excess.
Whenever I get stressed about mess and excess, I go on a cleaning frenzy. I tidy, I throw out, I donate. I always feel so good afterwards. Cleansing the closets equates to cleansing the soul!
However, there are always some strange things that I have trouble parting with: stuffed animals from my childhood (they are my friends, and besides, their feelings would be hurt), the swizzle stick I saved from that family vacation to Maine when I was six (the prettiest shade of red I have ever seen), a box filled with every work schedule I ever had as a flight attendant (cool places!), another box with every letter my Mom or Dad ever wrote me (sentimental attachment), old board games I plan to sell on Ebay (when I have time-ha!), etc. How can I teach frugality and simplicity to my kids when my life is filled with odd and unnecessary items?
I have a particular weakness for cardboard boxes. I like to save them. You never know when you might need one. Plus the kids play with them, and one day I will use every single one of them when I sell all my extra stuff on Ebay and make a fortune.
My husband hates my stuff, especially the boxes. He says we need to just rent a dumpster. I told him, we’ll rent a dumpster when he agrees to put at least half his precious garage junk treasures into it.
I continue to fantasize that my house will one day be transformed into a zen-like sanctuary of simplicity and spiritual living. It will look like one of those minimalist spaces you see sometimes in House Beautiful or even Architectural Digest. My furniture will all be white. My few, artfully arranged books will have matching spines in a soothing palette of neutral colors. I will have miniature zen rock gardens on my coffee table instead of the zen scattering of Cheerios which sits there now.
One day…
Oh…are you going to throw out that box? Can I have it?
Everything Else!, mess, organizing, silly ramblings, simplicty
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cleaning, mess, neotoma albigula, organizing, pack rat, packrat, simplicity, simplifying
I have two ideas to present in today’s post:
1) DON’T FORGET FRIENDS
A TV-free Mom friend wants me to write a post about how friends can help the anti-TV effort.
This friend is working on a Master’s degree and had an important deadline to meet on Friday. Unfortunately Friday was a half day at school. I picked her daughter up, gave her lunch and then she and my kids played happily until her Mom was through with her assignment. My friend was grateful since her only other desperate option would probably have been to sit her daughter down in front of the TV with a series of videos.
This was a win-win for all! My friend completed her work on time, her daughter and my kids had a great afternoon, and I was able to do some things around the house because my kids were so busy playing with a buddy.
My friend would like to remind people to consider friends as a resource for turning off the TV. When you absolutely, positively need to get some alone-time for an important task (or even just to regain a little sanity), call a friend and everyone benefits!
2) CLUTTER BUSTER - ORGANIZE THE ART
Idea number two is an organizing tip that works well for us. What do you do with all the art work that your TV-free kids create? The refrigerator is the traditional display area, but we recently remodeled the kitchen and have a stainless steel fridge (non-magnetic).
I picked a bare wall in the playroom and hung two lengths of string by tying the ends around thumbtacks in the wall. For a more modern-look, you could also use wire. We hang the most recent masterpieces on the string using clothespins.
The kids enjoy hanging the pictures and seeing their efforts nicely displayed on the wall. It makes a cool focal point for the room and is easy to change when the mood strikes!
UPDATE: Here is another great art-organizing idea from a reader-comment:
“My favorite idea for getting rid of art or schoolwork clutter is mailing “care” packages to grandparents. (A favorite aunt & uncle would work too!) The grandparents love seeing what the grandkids are doing and the kids enjoy showing off their work with others and it eliminates the guilt and/or hurt feelings from throwing the item away.”
I like that idea because I hate throwing it away, but you just can’t keep it all (even a packrat like me). Thanks for the input!
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