Conquering Clutter’s Demons

Addicted, like I am, to the taste of a good wild mushroom, we headed out to the woods again to look. Nothing. Too cold. But, as I’m reading, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder, (inspired by MountainMama) I figure that even if I don’t taste a mushroom today, the experience of the woods is very good for the boys. In the beginning of the book, Louv says that he runs through the woods of his childhood in his dreams. I do that too… special places were I used to play are so vivid and real in my mind, and are the settings for dreams. I never really considered how fortunate this gift was, until I realized that my boys may not have such “rooms” in their memories to use.

So, as we walked we found this house, tucked under a tree root in the woods. It looks so very much like a house straight out of The Wind in the Willows that I caught myself checking around for the camera crews that probably set this scene, with the lush moss growing on top of the roof, so perfectly arranged. But here it is, all natural. Such a simple exquisite little house. Undoubtedly, perfectly, clutter-free.

We got home late, and tired, while the boys irritated every last nerve we had on the way home, and then I realized how much housekeeping I need to do. I’m very good about getting rid of clutter as soon as it comes into my house. Junk mail, irrelevant fliers from school, and empty cereal boxes are whisked out daily. Clutter is bad for you. Sometimes, we can’t see what clutter is. That’s the trick. Clutter becomes a habit.

Articles linger in my house. Relevant and so-pertinent-articles-to-my-life-headlines fill the breakfast table, and the kitchen counter waiting for a moment when the kid’s aren’t talking so I can read them. Again, it happens tomorrow, and I just pile that one on top of yesterday’s article (because the kids are always chatting.) And then the Pottery Barn Catalog arrives, and then I see this one picture, unlike any other Pottery Barn picture that I’ve seen before (Ha!), the perfect solution that will solve all of my organizational and decorating problems in one fell swoop. Gotta keep that. With the advent of the Internet, I gave up saving recipe clippings. I either blog about it right away so I can have a record of it, or it’s gone. And then, there are the scrapbooks — and more accurately, the bits and pieces of life’s daily merry-go-round that I believe are so pertinent to preservation. Sometimes I feel as if I’m drowning under the heap.

Ahhh, yes, and the books I read. In addition to Woods, I’m also reading a book, for the first time, I’ve always wanted to inhale, Expecting Adam. So, what I’m saying is that I have lots of stuff; because I use lots of stuff.

I’m constantly looking for ways to purge. I’m proud to report that on Friday, I worked with my littlest son, and purged out all the jewelry I acquired from my Mom’s jewelry box. Stuff I will never wear. But, I had felt it was my duty to keep “intact.” I put them in a box, along with her collection of hankies, and said good-bye for now. Certainly not getting rid of them; but putting them aside for now. Still, I have more demons to conquer.

I have an telephone answering machine that we no longer use. There are still messages on the tape, and I know there are messages from my Mom on there, talking as if there’s nothing wrong. I can’t bear to listen. Yet, part of my knows how nice it would be to hear her voice, sounding so normal, without the slightest hint of the future. This is something I cannot bear to de-clutter. The question is, what is it costing me to keep it?

So, what I’d like to know about you, is this: is there something in your house that you know you should get rid of, but haven’t because you’re too afraid to let it go?

See more, beautiful, awesome best shot Monday’s at Tracey’s blog.