Monday, March 9, 2015

Decluttering

Seems like most of the blogs I read lately have to do with decluttering.  The need to purge our homes of those things which don't bring us joy.  The high priestess of this movement is Marie Kondo and her book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing.
Her theory is that people who can't let go of their clutter are either trying to hold on to the past or fear the future.  I say pooh.
When we retired we sold our 2,000 sq.ft. house and moved across the country to about a 3,000 sq.ft. house just so we'd have plenty of room for our clutter.  If something is in our house it's because we like, we need it, it makes us happy and so what if it clutters the place up.
We each have little stacks of stuff near where we sit or work.  Piles of books, sheets of music, paint and canvas, yarn.  It's how we like to live.

My Corner By the Couch, paintings, crocheting

TBR stash next to the couch

Mac's books and sheet music

His easel and guitar

Oh once a year I do a bit of a clear out, but it's not serious.  This house represents our past and our future.  No I don't want to let go of the past, but I'm up for whatever comes in the future.  I walk from room to room and smile at what I see.
Am I an impulse buyer, not particularly, I don't shop for the fun of it.  I buy what I want or need.  If that makes our home cluttered so be it.  I don't want to live minimally.  We have room to spare.

11 comments:

  1. That's a nice attitude to have, I applaud it!

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  2. That's a nice attitude to have, I applaud it!

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  3. Keep everything that is beautiful and/or useful. If you have a lot of it what a great life. I like to be surrounded by our 'life' clutter.
    xx

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  4. Living in a not very spacious flat, I feel I'm constantly trying to declutter. Having had to sort out my parents house (which took us 3-4 years) makes me even more determined not to let clutter take over... The best tip I came across recently was to start with the simple stuff.

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  5. Minimalist that I proclaim to be, I still look around and find stacks that need sorting. But on a scale of one to five (one being the best and five being the number of people in my house) I'm a number one.

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  6. I think that most hoarders are trying to hold on to the past AND they fear the future, never mind one or the other. That is a TRUE hoarder. Most people are not TRUE hoarders, even if they have a lot of stuff. You are - in my view - only a hoarder if you will not get rid of things, and most people are not like that. So, I will not be reading the book, I will keep the stuff I have and will let it go as and when I want to! It sounds as though you are the same way as me! Sorry about the bit at the start, the hoarder thing is something that I struggle with, not for myself, but for someone else. xx

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  7. Hey, what every works for you and if your happy why not.

    Personally I agree with the book. If things don't bring us joy why not declutter.
    For me a cluttered home is a cluttered mind. I am not crazy about cleaning but I like things to be put away.
    I had a friend's MIL who couldn't live without all her things. She could not throw or give away anything. Every wall and counter was covered and she had boxes and boxes of stuff that she had forgotten about in the garage. But refused to give anything away.
    I lean more towards minimalist. I work better in a clean and neat home.
    When I work in my studio everything is there for me to use I don't have to waste time looking for it.

    We all live the way that makes us happy. That should be our only parameters.

    cheers, parsnip


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  8. I confess to having a stash of things in progress around "my" chair, too! I'm always tidying it up, but it creeps right back. Oh, well. It's your home -- do what makes you happy to live in it.

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  9. Good for you. I think we all have to do what's right for us. I really do need a sort out, but that's not to say that I'll get rid of everything that isn't useful, sometimes I keep things for no real purpose, just because I want to.

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  10. I must confess that my husband has larger stacks of stuff around him than I do. When we moved here we had a good clear out, but gradually it has all come back again.

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  11. I love your comment. I say "pooh", too. We just don't have enough time to declutter, we're too busy reading. ;)

    Have a good day,
    Marianne from Let's Read

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