Friday, February 15, 2013

My Stuff, My Journey

As I get more into this project during the Lenten season it is going to get harder, because I am a natural hoarder. Not like TV show hoarder, but enough that my stuff makes it difficult to be organized and feel comfortable in our home. Much of this stuff I have had for 22+ years and so there is some real emotional attachment to it. It should be "just stuff" but there are a lot of wonderful memories attached to my stuff and so it makes it that much harder to get rid of. I keep reminding myself of the William Morris quote:
"Have nothing in your house that ou don't know to be useful. Or believe to be beautiful."
If it is useful or beautiful or even both, then we will have no problem finding a place for it in our home. It will be interesting to see how both my husband's and my different styles come into play as we are able to finally start decorating our home as we get everything put away. The challenge came at the right time as I was starting to feel overwhelmed by stuff and wanted to be able to get things organized and start feeling settled. Not because people were telling me that I had too, but rather because I want to be able to have a less chaotic home and I wanted to be able to open our doors to others. What good is having a home if you cannot demonstrate hospitality to others. So during the processing/ planning phase I came across these questions from Home Your Way. It is definitely worth the time it takes to read it! Happy Saturday!

2 comments:

Mrs. Bookworm said...

Here is the article link.

http://home.yourway.net/10-questions-to-help-you-declutter/

I am still learning how to use this space. :)

Rachel Postma said...

A few pieces of decluttering advice that I have found useful are
1.Clean your home as if you were planning on your family going through your things the day after your funeral.
2.Ask yourself if you didn't have it, would you buy it again for $5 at a garage sale. If not, toss it.
3. (from personal experience)If you water your plants so well during a drought that the basement gets wet and you don't notice for a week, you will know to ask yourself. 'Would this be worth salvaging if it was covered in mildew?'
PS - you're getting me inspired :)