Clutter Invades Our Lives

Clutter

Clutter, we all have it, it comes in all shapes and sizes and many forms, and it invades our lives in the most innocuous ways.  Then, without warning, we are swamped in the growing sea of clutter that engulfs us like quicksand in a desert.  How does all this clutter come into our lives?  How do we rid ourselves of this clutter and free up our time for family, hobbies, creativity, work and relaxing?

It all starts with something that attracts our attention.  It comes in the form of clothing, knickknacks, jewelry, books, fabric, tools, kitchen utensils, lawn and garden equipment, tools, home décor, shoes, cosmetics, games, entertainment etc.  Before long we can be overwhelmed with clutter and the clutter is consuming our lives.

About 2 years ago I felt led to begin cleaning out the clutter and that process continues to this day.  Right now I am working on electronic clutter, e-books, photos, bookmarks, email subscriptions, blogs, pages, etc.  When I started cleaning out just my e-books I had almost 900 eBooks, now most of them were downloaded for free, but really who is going to have time to read 900 books.  I’m now down to about 300, still too many, but a good start.  Today was bookmarks and YouTube subscriptions.  Oh my goodness, things sure looked good at the time, but why did I save so many things.

Lesson learned, think before purchasing or saving something, be it electronic or a physical item. I used to be a shopping addict, I loved buying clothing, shoes, home décor, cookbooks, kitchen gadgets, craft items, etc.  Now I ask myself do I really love this, is it going to make my life or my family’s any better, do I really need it?  If I don’t, then I walk away.  If I do bring it home and it doesn’t work, I return it.

Those of you who know me well know how organized I am and even in the midst of organization you can have clutter by having too many things.  It’s much easier to find things when there isn’t so much to look through.

I am so looking forward to a completely clutter free life with more time to spend with my family instead of putting things away, digging through piles and dusting unnecessary things.   The Goodwill and other charities will continue to benefit from cleaning out the physical items and my electronic devices will have loads of extra space and function better.   What Ideas do you have for decluttering?