Remember my 3 a.m. panic earlier this week?
The sheer volume and height of clutter in my master bedroom was daunting.
But I’ve learned during this deslobification process to not trust my perceptions of clutter.
There was a certain basketfull of clothing that had been perplexing me. It was behind other clutter, but I could see enough to know it was clean clothes. I assumed it was winter clothing that somehow lost its way during a Seasonal Clothing Switchover.
I assumed enough to keep me from trying to tackle it.
But I did wonder how on earth it could be such a BIG pile.
Once I finally tackled it in the wee hours of Tuesday, I realized . . . it wasn’t a huge pile.
It was stuffed.
Underneath a layer of four or five pieces of clothing were these:
Space-taking, easy-to-stick-in-the-laundry-room-six-feet-away-where-I-actually-need-them hangers.
They were stuffing my clutter pile.
Just like Shirley stuffed her bra when she and Laverne had to work at the ten-cents-a-dance place when they were laid off from Shotz for three weeks.
Perception.
Hmmmph.
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As we head into the weekend, let me remind you of a few things (and throw in some affiliate links):
Don’t forget to enter the giveaway for a 3 month subscription to eMeals! so sorry. giveaway is not over.
My first, second and third podcasts are up, and are now in iTunes (for free!) so you can subscribe and not miss one!
Did you attend the live hangout about gaining traction in your home?
--Nony
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done the same thing with shipping boxes in my office. When I finally clean, I discover that I’ve piled a bunch of stuff on top of an empty (or only filled with packing material) box. So the mess that I’d been avoiding because it was so big, wasn’t big at all.
When I’m overwhelmed with clean laundry to fold I pull the bath towels and any blankets or sheets out and fold those first. That almost always makes the pile look way less overwhelming and it doesn’t take long to fold.
SO true! I love folding sheets and towels because of the visual impact that happens so quickly!
Sorry, but this just makes me want to watch Laverne & Shirley, not clean my room. 🙂
Haha! I’m watching it right now!!
I know that some of my problem is stuffing-related, but most of it still boils down to the fact that my house has zero storage options. The one place that might work, the ‘attic’ (I don’t know if one-story houses have attics, but it’s something like that), has an access panel too small for any plastic storage bin to fit through…and that’s the only way I’d put anything I cared about up there. And so I just need to bite the bullet and start donating lots and lots of stuff. Unfortunately it’s a matter of finding the energy to do that.
It is possible to extend the opening for the attic — my parents did it when they fitted a new ladder. But it might be better to declutter.
I have finally caught up with the present day! It has only taken me a week of ignoring washing, dishes and uni assignments (whoops). I first found your blog when I was overwhelmed with the amount of mess that was around my and my partners apartment. So I googled cleaning blogs and your came up and thank goodness it did. I no longer feel hopeless I know it will get better if i try and since starting I have made a conscious effort to ensure I don’t just put stuff down. Also i have put ALL of our washing away, you know the stuff that sits clean in the washing basket for a month that you go searching though. As it is coming into summer here in Australia I am hoping to start decluttering once I finish university for the year. So thank you for being so real and true and not being perfect because its exactly what most of us need hope.
Oh thank you for this comment, Georgina! And welcome!