Thursday, November 3, 2011

Reasons to Keep Clutter


Today I was talking with my mom on the phone and I said "I'm not a packrat," but as I continued to think about what I'd been telling her I started to question that. 
I do keep clothes from when i was 12 years old (some of which I still wear). I don't want to get rid of these clothes because I just think that someday I could use them to make my baby some clothes instead of buying fabric.
I have 6 bottles of almost used smelly lotions because it seems like a waste to throw them away.
I have stuff from family/friends that I won't use EVER, but I feel obligated to keep. I realized that I have moved a few of those said objects with me 6 times! One of these, for instance is like 4 copies of a church movie that I were leftovers from when my Dad was a Bishop and I thought I'd give them to my visiting teachees for Christmas -- well I'm actually doing it this year! Can you believe I've moved those with me 6 times???
So I realized I am a packrat, but since I love things to not look cluttered at all, all those objects/clothes are tucked away neatly in tupperwear containers under my bed/in cabinet space throughout the house. 
When I get home I am surely getting rid of it. 
One of my greatest motivations to get rid of things and simplify my life is the blog @ smallnotebook.org
She gets asked so often "what to do about other peoples' stuff" that she made this great diagram: 

This helped me identify a lot of things I have that I didn't even realize was unnecessary. 

One of my other favorite tips was her decision tree to buy a shirt/blouse: 
via smallnotebook.org
Maybe I'll use this when deciding to keep a shirt/blouse :) One of my favorites is the "drop it like it's hot" for a hoddie -- because I have this really old "brigham young university" hoodie that looked great on me when I wore it on the coast when I was 14; but now it just really needs to go, you know why? Not because I don't wear it but because it just looks too horrible to keep wearing!

I realized how many of these "reasons to keep clutter" (via smallnotebook.org) go through my head when I'm organizing/going through old stuff.
1. I paid good money for it.
2. Someone might want it.
3. It would be a waste to throw it away.
4. I just need to buy more storage totes.
5. That used to be special to me.
6. That was a souvenir from…
7. I might need it later.
8. I just need a bigger home.
9. It’s a book! (or a cookbook!)
10. It was on sale.
11. I could make something with it.
12. It belonged to my grandmother.
13. When I have more time, I’ll use it /read it / finish it.
14. I don’t have time to go through this stuff.
15. I’m too tired.
16. I’ll do it later.
17. It’s a sweet baby item.
18. Someone who loves me gave it to me.
19. I worked hard to write/study/make this.
20. I want it to stay in the family.
21. It’s not my clutter, it’s my spouse’s/child’s/roommate’s.
22. I need to wait until I have a full weekend to do it right.
23. I’ll keep it until I have a garage sale.
24. It might be valuable one day.
25. It might come back in fashion.
26. It’s vintage!
27. It’s a collection.
28. My child made it.
29. It makes me feel secure.
30. It shows how smart or talented I am.
31. It proves I was here.
32. Why bother? It will just get cluttered again anyway.

How do you keep clear of clutter?

1 comment:

  1. I love this, and should use that diagram to clean out my closet! I keep clothes . . . I'm horrible at getting rid of clothes. You could add, "When I lose weight I'll wear this" to the list. haha

    ReplyDelete