Exhibit A: the NY Times
Exhibit B and C: blogs I follow, a home improvement one and a fashion one.
All of which make me feel ashamed to own 3 eye liners.
Discussing this issue with another purge-driven lady, we decided that closet content is amorphous. It's like a gas - no matter how much you take out, the remaining contents take up the whole space. It's never ending and exhausting.
Pictures from when I last cleaned out my closet and how, although I took out quite a bit, I still felt overwhelmed with stuff.
And yes, that is a thick, mountain-scene-howling-wolf-esque blanket on our bed... it's the only thing I ever stole and it was retribution for a mile walk in the cold. I'll explain another time... maybe.
And yes, that is a thick, mountain-scene-howling-wolf-esque blanket on our bed... it's the only thing I ever stole and it was retribution for a mile walk in the cold. I'll explain another time... maybe.
We've all see the hoarders shows where they help people categorize by creating piles for "keep", "give away" and "trash". If you don't need it, give it to someone who does or throw it away it no one needs it.
Simple, right? But what about our emotional attachment to some things. What about sentimental gifts. What about specific items used for specific purposes that are valuable but not frequently used. Are they worth a storage unit?
Hmm. Noodle on that. Ask yourself, "If I had to pay to keep this in storage, would it be worth it?"
S and I plan to clean out our guest room closet in the coming weekends. It's really gotten away from us since we moved in a year ago. I'm baffled at the stuff 2 people can keep without knowing why.
I think this will be our first major overhaul of clutter that we've done together of a shared space. I anticipate a few tiffs over it.
When we moved in, he hated this vintage mirror I bought of craig's list and wanted to get rid of some of my wicker items.
When we moved in, I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out why he kept his high school text books. High school, people... textbooks!
So this closet might be a good test of our patience. My plan for success and minimal bruising is:
A) Go in open-minded, willing to throw things away. If I'm going to ask him to part with ridiculous French language CDs that he's never listened to, I need to be prepared to pare down my wrapping paper. One of my favorite ideas from the NYT article is that we need to allow ourselves to get rid of sentimental things. After all, we aren't throwing away the feeling, we're just making room for our homes and psyche to breathe.
B) Stay on task. See the big picture. Sometimes when purging, we get so hung up in the details that we spend 3 hours going through a collection of finger paint artwork whilst sitting in a pile of junk. Also, if your purge process will take long enough to need a lunch break, make sure you time it and get right back to work!
C) Clean as you go. Somewhere between Mr. S's and my cleaning style should be a happy medium. Don't be so OCD that you slow down or stop. Don't be so flippant that you end up putting things away dirty either. (We take turns being overly thorough and avoidant: this past week he told me cleaned the bathroom... but somehow that didn't include the shower or the toilet bowl... And I will just walk right over cat vomit and let him clean it up... I mean, they're his cats! haha.)
D) When purging with another person, be considerate. We all have histories with our stuff. So when you see empty picture frames or find yet a 5th winter coat, be patient with your partner. Be open to them questioning your keepsakes as you treat them with kid gloves. Remind each other of the end goal (space, emotionally and physically) and work towards it together.
Now off you go to clean out your junk drawer or frolic in a field.
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I should just start making this portion of the blog my personal update section. I guess that's why I have another blog, though!
