Challenge #2: Get Real
The 2nd part of SRB’s de-cluttering challenge is to “Get Real” and think about the emotional aspect of the clutter in our lives. While thinking about what I wanted to write in this post, I realized that I definitely have different emotions regarding different areas of my life. I just posted my master bedroom decluttering post, and honestly, that was an area that was easy for me to de-clutter, which is probably why I started with it. I think that’s because it was all about organization and putting things in their rightful places. Easy stuff (for me) because it’s the type of cleaning I like to do. When I feel overwhelmed by the clutter in my life that is out of place (like the mail on the counter top, the dirty glasses on the bedside table, the clean laundry in the basket) – I’m usually pretty good at speed cleaning for a few minutes and cleaning up the visual spaces. It’s the deep cleaning & purging where it gets harder for me.
For example, when I start on purging the clothing in our closets, it’s going to get harder. The majority of my clothes are from a decade ago. That is because I’m cheap and have no style. I still wear t-shirts from TWO decades ago. That is because I’m emotional. My emotions are all tied up in my clothing, just like most people’s emotions are tied to the song that was playing during their first kiss. I don’t even have nice clothes, which is part of why this is so sad! I just think “that was the first shirt I bought in college” or “I wore that in high school softball” or “maybe my daughter would like that some day” (HA!) or “what a waste of money if I throw a perfectly good shirt away” or “maybe I’ll fit into that again some day!” Ya, it’s ridiculous.
So here’s my goal moving forward. I’ll be posting some more “easy” spaces in the meantime that I tackled before Harvey was born (bathrooms, kitchen, etc), but I’m going to start working on my hard spaces… the clothing, the rows of photo albums, etc. I’m going to really think hard about if it’s beneficial to me to keep that stuff around anymore. I’m not going to let worrying about money (buying new clothes) or excessive sentimental attachment keep me from purging the excess clutter in my life.
Wish me luck!