I don't think of myself as being a "stuff" person. I'm not, generally, tied into having things...especially not things that confer some sort of status. It's just stuff. Yet, somehow I've found myself at a point in my life where I feel swamped by clutter. There's just a ton of stuff in my home and it's everywhere. Sometimes it feels like we are literally wading through clutter.
On reflection, it's not hard to figure out how we got here. While we don't pursue stuff generally, as individuals we have areas where we could be called collectors (if you are feeling charitable) or hoarders (if you aren't). Ryan collects music; his CD collection is enormous. He also is quick to pick up movies and games for Thomas and I. Thomas loves anything Lego, board games, and has a collection of books impressive for an 8 year old. I'm probably the worst of us. I collect books, cook books, cookware, pantry staples, and (bizarrely) yarn.
Over the years, we've run culls. Boxes and boxes of media have been appreciated, considered, and ultimately left the house as gifts, donations, or second hand sales. Even so, there are literally thousands of books in the house, cds and other disc media is well up over 4 digits, and Thomas has two craft drawer sets filled to bursting with Legos. Board games are overflowing their storage areas, many of which we haven't gotten around to playing. We have stacks and stacks of books, movies, and cds all over the house. We also have full bookcases and racks. It's just a lot, and it doesn't even address all the other incidental clutter that life generates.
The biggest problem is that most/many things just don't have homes. Not being stuff people, for most of our adult lives if the house got messy, it was really just a process of rounding up all the stuff that needed to be tossed out or donated. It took a few hours. We really just didn't have much that needed organizing. As we've aged our collections grew, life became more involved, and we have more things that are worth keeping. Yet, neither of us really has the organizing habit ingrained, so things accumulated over time. They didn't have homes, so they just built up all over the place stuffed into whatever corner was convenient at the time.
I'm out of corners and my tolerance for clutter is tapped out.
The goal for 2023 is to fix it.
By fix it, I mean everything off the floors. Everything has homes and the storage spaces are organized. This is not going to be a quick process. We are going to need to buy shelving for the basement and finally get around to sealing the wall (before I stick shelves in front of it). I am going to have to consciously work at the backlog of books and finish the various yarn projects I'm in the middle of. We need to unbox and actually play our board games.
Thomas and I actually started in December by cleaning his room and moving his toys out of the old dining room (which we turned into a play room for his toddler years.) It felt doable and his support was amazing. He earmarked 5 boxes of old toys, books, and games that were in good enough shape to be donated and two full bags of broken toys. His room, while still cluttered, is clean and it feels like such a better more inviting space.
With support like that, I feel like this is an achievable goal and it will be nice to feel like we have a house in good enough shape to have company in.
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