Cleaning out Clutter

So,  as I continue to try to de-clutter my current life, I run into so many different things.  But after writing that post, I did finally manage to clean out a desk that I had been tossing stuff onto since my moving back into this house.  The amazing thing that happened through the cleaning out of that desk was that I found my a camera lens that I had been missing.  For about the prior two years, I either had the up close lens, or the telephoto one, either way I was typically disappointed.  At last I finally found what I was looking for.  

I am trying to work on one particular room my now, which would be my office, I haven’t spent anytime in that room since moving back into this house.  Now, I typically stay in the living room.  A couple of other things I have been doing, is taking all of my magazines to work for others to read.  I had what feels like a zillion magazine subscriptions.  Also, I have a box of books that anyone can go through and take.  Which is good because I tend collect books. 

So while this isn’t a posting about cleaning out what is bugging us, but rather, a few steps I am taking to de-clutter, I am hoping a more gentile home environment will make for having a more relaxed home, and we can all use that.

Here are a few tips from the article that got me into action.

1.  Set a timer for 5 minutes to clean a small area out. Bring a trashbag with you when you clean out your area.

2.  Pick a small area to clean out, don’t make it anything too grand.

3.  Toss out anything you haven’t used in over 6 months.  This is a little harsh for me personally b/c I have some stuff that isn’t used that often, and it is stuff that is expensive to replace.

4.  When the timer goes off stop.

Here is the article that created the inspiration.

Cleaning out Clutter

Cleaning out the clutter is a theme that I have been hit with several times here lately.  I have gotten email messages about cleaning out the clutter, and how much your life will improve, as well as a book or two coming across my hands regarding the same message.  To me, when things like this happen it is a sign from up above, that I should get busy now, while the gentle messages are being whispered in my ear, rather than having something like a tornado do it for me. 

So much of this advice centers around first start out cleaning out small things, like say, your closet.  I did purchase some specialty hangers which made everything in my closet look uniform, but it did little combat the desire to keep and hold onto old clothes that I will never wear.  About a year ago I promised myself that when I purchased something new, something old would be tossed out or donated.  This I upheld, but this never really removed anything out of my closet.  I look at this as an analogy on my life, and I wonder have I really gotten past my previous stumbling blocks or if any of us really get over our real stumbling blocks.

There are many regrets, moments, and events that have happened to all of us, that I have to wonder if reliving these things keep us from cleaning out the clutter in our own lives.  What is holding us back?  I made two long distance moves last year, and swore that I would no longer accumulate the clutter, well old habbits die a little hard, I now have way too much stationary, and books are over taking small corners of my house. 

While I know that taking a mass inventory of all of my excess objects or even baggage, would be a difficult task to do, I think starting at a small corner, and like the advice says, spend five minutes to clean out a corner, and to go through everything is definately in order.  Excess clutter weighs us down so much, and live should be enjoyed and lived in the moment, why not clean out that small drawer or something that has been eating at us, and stop having those small things weigh us down.