The market for books on uncluttering your home is already flooded. I had one once, and a close friend has just sent me another. There's an article about a Japanese de-clutterer in today's Times (it's apparently the in thing in Japan). But I'm beginning to wonder whether it's really such a bad thing, hoarding clutter. I have a love-hate relationship with mine, and lack the determination to reduce it, because it's easier to love (keep) clutter than to hate (get rid of it).
A random (ie the nearest) drawer yields - among other things - the following:
An old mobile ( no drawer should be without one of these),
String (ditto).
A rather grubby half used candle.
A packet of ibuprofen; probably out of date and only two tablets left.
A very ancient first aid kit in a tin, inherited I think from my in-laws, and practically empty.
(And these are the tip of the iceberg.)
I looked at these things, and then put them back. Why? Because I have a certain fondness for their familiar randomness, and because I can't be bothered to sort them out and put them all in the Right Place (largely, the bin).
How do you feel about clutter? (I'd particularly like to hear from people who are attached to theirs, as that will make me feel better.)
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Clutter is such an emotive word. As a person who lives alone in a house with eleven spaces surrounded by walls (plus a copious floored loft with many yards of book shelves) and a massive workshop and garage (not to mention the garden shed) I have to confess that I possess an obscene quantity of 'stuff' which inhabits those spaces. A few years ago my brother helped me clear the loft (of about half its contents). He is coming back this summer which is a Good Thing because the loft is worse than it was before the last clearance. Over the last year or so I've 'rationalised' my living room and two of the bedrooms. This week I'm having a massive rationalisation of the utility room. All this makes me feel very virtuous and keeps me happy. What I can't understand is why, having done all that, I still have the same amount of 'stuff'. But it's definitely not clutter.
ReplyDeleteEleven spaces.....does that mean eleven rooms? I'm puzzled, Graham
DeleteWell, Frances, sort of. Eleven rooms would sound as though I live in a mansion. The spaces include a large conservatory, a fairly large porch and the hall which may not really be rooms but which have plenty of space to store 'stuff'.
DeleteYou need to unclutter in order to have somewhere to put the books on uncluttering.
ReplyDeleteWe really really don't need any more books, Tim. I've forbidden my husband to buy any more, but he takes no notice. New ones keep creeping in.
DeleteI rather think that if you had been male and had said that you had forbidden your wife to buy more books there would be a national outcry.
DeleteOne person's clutter is another person's treasure. My treasure is not clutter but my husband's clutter is clutter!
ReplyDeleteMaggie, I'm afraid I know my clutter is clutter. That's the problem.
DeleteClutter lies in the eye of the beholder, I guess.
ReplyDeleteIt is odd how we can be attached to one piece of "stuff" (such as an empty notebook covered in a fox print) and completely left cold by another (such as a wooden candle stand recieved last Christmas from my Mum's neighbour).
Give me your candle stand, Meike, and I'll put it at the top of our lane. By morning, it'll be gone. There's someone here who collects things!
DeleteWe have hoarded the same items as you. I have spent all day decluttering the living room of a wardrobeful of clothes, paperwork, ornaments etc but could proudly produce some oddments of bubblewrap from "that drawer in the small bedroom" to send a parcel today. So, on the one hand I ask myself why and on the other hand I think "why not".
ReplyDeleteOh well done, L, on both counts. I wish I had your motivation...
DeleteThat's where I keep my budbblewrap too (well, one of the places - I seem to have a lot of it).
DeleteWe nest - we have our 'stuff' around us and it comforts us.
ReplyDeleteLibby, what a lovely thought! I think I'll nest too, which presumably gets me off the hook?
DeleteI have lots of "clutter" in drawers and on shelves. ( not to mention the wardrobe and cupboards!) I have to be in the right mood to do anything about it. It takes a certain strength to actually throw stuff out!
ReplyDeleteFrances, the big problem is where to start. This book I've been given is called Start with your Sock Drawer. I don't have a sock draw...
DeleteAh ha! that's what I'll do, I'll start with my sock drawer and work right on up to my undies and then steel myself for the closet and all those 10+ year old clothes I haven't worn in 10+ years. I'll keep you posted.
DeleteDo, Jill. I'd be most interested to know how you get on!
DeleteThis is very apt since we've been clearing out our house for the past year and are moving in a few weeks! Very liberating.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with that, Rosemary!
DeleteLiving in a flat with no room for more furniture, every now and then I have to do something radical. The definition of "now and then" remains somewhat floating, though...
ReplyDeleteI think a flat with not much room is a very good idea for curing clutter-collectors, as there must be a limit to what you can collect?
DeleteYes Frances, there is. The basic rule now is that if something new comes in, something old has to go. And if a drawer gets full, empty it and only put back what you need... (Making rules is simple. Following them, on the other hand...)
DeleteI started a thing with books which I called BOGROT. Buy one get rid of two. Sadly it didn't work...
DeleteWe have a 'man drawer' in the kitchen where we put all those random things that have no other home. I'm too scared to open it!
ReplyDeleteWendy, ALL our drawers are man drawers. It's a disaster.
DeleteI live with a house of hoarders and sadly i have become one myself. Every year I try to get rid of stuff but I feel I have lost the battle.
ReplyDeleteThe ridiculous thing is...If the house caught fire, there isn't that much I would save.