Anyone who has organized their closet or cleaned out there desk knows it feels great! Clearing out clutter seems to reduce a pressure on us that builds up so incrementally that we don't feel it as it grows but we certainly feel the relief when we get rid of it. That stack of notes from our undergraduate classes that we somehow thought we might want to look at again, or that box of clothes that we kept in case we lost weight, or that box of receipts from everything we have bought for the last 4 years all add to physical and mental clutter. Being organized, clutter free, and living simply will improve our quality of life. The New York Times has a good article on clutter that deals with our attitude toward clutter. The article points out a common misunderstanding of clutter, clutter is not a space problem it is a person problem. I can't tell you how many times I have thought, if I only had a few more plastic bins, or a bigger closet, or bigger house. I am now understanding that if I don't change my behavior it won't matter how much room I have, in the end I will always need more.
A few things that help:
- Scan your pictures and documents (evernote is a great resource)
- Throw things away, just do it! (or recycle or donate it)
- Use online statements and bill pay
If you have some other suggestions please post them. Thanks!
my suggestion... don't collect stuff you 'might' want one day, just because your sister (or anyone) is dejunking and you don't want it to go to waste!
ReplyDeleteI read this right before packing up my bags to come home, which I think was a good idea... I used to save ticket stubs or foreign currency as souvenirs... I throw them away now (well, not the money). But I've learned that if take a picture of something that I think I'll miss, it's easier to throw it away... now I struggle with photo-clutter. I must say though, I'm getting better at deleting old and never-looked-at pictures from my computer and it feels so good!
ReplyDelete