De-Cluttering, It’s Not For the Faint of Heart

Hello, my name is Gwyneth. I’m clutter-phobic.

If you’ve been to my house, you know. It’s true. Clutter drives me nuts. I can’t relax and be comfortable in my own house if there’s clutter. In your house, I’m perfectly at home if you offer me a glass of water or a cup of tea, no matter if your surfaces are clear or overflowing.

But, in my own house, I hate clutter. I can’t relax in a space that’s disorganized. Because, somehow, it is something I can do something about.

When Camille was little and we had our first house, I developed a “room of the week” plan. Each week, we tackled a new room. Windows, ceiling fans and mouldings got scoured. Bookshelves, drawers, closets and the rest were purged. I felt great as each room was set right and organized.

Since we’ve moved to our new house and added a new member (Chloe) to the family, I’ve relaxed the schedule a bit…we are now down to “room of the month”. I fear that day of the month. I am overwhelmed. How in the world have we accumulated so much crap? Really? Who needs all this stuff?

The kitchen ranks as my least favorite room of the month. But this month is the basement hallway. How bad could that be really? Well, I’ve got unused injectable medication (what is the proper way to dispose of those??), an organ that belongs to Ralph Covert (of Ralph’s World fame), a closet full of random art supplies and dress-up clothes, and more….

I hate going thought all this junk. I stress to the girls…”If you haven’t looked at it since last year, why put it in a drawer for us to deal with next year??”

From our summer “room of the month” purges, we have gathered quite a few large bags of “stuff that needs to find a new home”… I can’t wait for homeschool classes to start and that free pile. I sure hope to find good homes for all of our cast-offs. Games, books, clothes…good stuff, but no longer welcome here.

Once the de-cluttering and cleaning is done, I feel so much more at peace. I know if we didn’t tackle a room each month I’d be even more stressed out about it all. So, much as I hate it, it keeps the house in order and me sane.