The other day, I read some one’s post about being a mess. My fellow homeschool mom was hinting to the fact that she needed to organize her home. I suppose we all need a little help in that department from time to time but honestly, it seems like a defeated goal while you have kids still at home all the time.
Which are you, organized or clutter-catcher? I’m neither. Actually, I’m a tweener – not yet organized not quite clutter catcher. In this household of pack rats and I say that affectionately, I keep preaching, “If you don’t use it, then lose it” philosophy. Unfortunately, everyone is slow to jump on my crusade.
My darling husband has to be the worse one in the pack. His reasoning is, I may find a need for this (piece of junk) one day or the kids may want it someday. “Oh, pleeease!” I want to scream. In fact, I do on rare occasions. No doubt, he has inherited recycling of old objects passion from his parents. Quite admirable, but when you have a tiny abode, then you are out of closet storage fast. Where do you put it then? With three decades of marriage under our belts, we have a lot of possessions (not valuable) we need to rid ourselves of.
This line of thinking “I might need this one day” our three children inherited from (mostly) their daddy and their parental grandparents (I don’t believe they ever threw anything away). It used to be when I pulled out the kiddos’ toy chest to toss the dolls with no heads or cars with missing wheels or a toy that was NEVER played with, then I’d hear an awful racket. “What? You can’t throw that away. That’s my favorite….” Sometimes, they would even be near the verge of tears. I am home with my children 24/7. When else can I throw out unwanted or dilapidated stuff?
Timing was never good to declutter our home. Once our children got old enough to spend time with their grandparents in West Virginia, then I saw that as a prime opportunity to do some serious organizing. For a week, I turned into a mini-tornado and swept through every possible nuke and cranny. The first time they returned home, it took them months before they began missing things. Once they learned the ill-fate of their never used or seldom thought of broken toy, they mildly protested for a few minutes about my decision to get rid of their suddenly valuable treasure and then they dropped the matter. What’s been done is done!
I have to use more caution with my husband’s belongings. His stuff is more sacred. First I have to figure out a way, if possible, to convince him that “x” isn’t of any value. Once I’m successful and he agrees we can toss it, then out the door it goes. I don’t put it off a second for fear he will get sentimental over “x” and find a reason to hang on to it. Not a reason to prove to me because I was already convinced “x” should go from the start. It’s getting HIM to let go NOT me.
By this point, one may think Cathy’s home must surely be organized. Absolutely no way! However, the good news is we now both work as a team to junk the junk. But, once the junk is gone, I have discovered we buy more junk (not at the moment) to replace the empty spot in our home. Oh, bother! I guess this can only mean one thing… we need to buy a bigger house so we can have more room for our junk. Do you think, if we start fresh with a new place that we will be clutter-busters or clutter-collectors? My reality check says, we’ll still be battling with the clutter-tween phase until well… death doth us part.
