A Few Words About Clutter

I am by nature, a messy person.  I will never, ever have one of those 'model homes'.  You know, the kind that would be eligible for a magazine spread.  I admit that I keep things for too long before they go in the Goodwill pile, and I have yarn, beads and material I will probably never get around to using.  There is always a project of some sort laying about in my living room.  BUT, there is reasonable amount of clutter and then there is - ahem - the clutter that overtook a good portion of my house.  The basement was by far the worst, though the garage runs a close second.

I don't mind a little clutter, in fact, I think it's healthy.  My self-worth has never been wrapped up in material things; however,  when things get very cluttered and messy my productivity is hampered and I find it oppressive.  I simply do not need to search for literally 30+ minutes to find something I need because it was dumped somewhere.  Nor do I need to negotiate piles of boxes to get to the washing machine.  (Not to mention, my spine does not need to do the bending, lifting and stairs in my house.) Trying to keep up with things took a toll on my back & cervical spine and, after a while,  I physically couldn't do it any more.

What can I say?  I can ask, request, demand or just plain get angry, but in the end, some people will do what they do.  While I can list many, many wonderful things about my family and am very proud of my two children, minding my requests for a bit of organization was not in that list.   So, reality is reality and I am doing what I can to clean up this mess.  I do need to acknowledge that my children, though late in the game, have stepped up to the plate and are helping whenever they can.  Ahhh....maturity!

Some of the things I found when cleaning out the basement:

• Yarn & material I purchased 10+ years ago.  Off to Goodwill.
• Kids toys I wonder why I ever saved. Goodwill.
•  My lesson plans using overheads from back in the day before everyone had PP.  In the Trash.
• Crap I didn't even know I had.  Trash.
• Furniture I will never repair.  Goodwill / Trash
• Clothes so old and outdated that even poor people would refuse to be seen wearing them.  Trash
• Boxes to every cell phone that we have ever owned. Trash
• Literally boxes and boxes and grocery bags full of old bills (presumably paid) and junk mail spanning twenty years (I had no idea...).  Burn/Shred

and...... 

The strong box.  Hallelujah!  Could it contain what I'd  been looking for?  With anticipation, I opened the box and....

• The house papers - not there
• The car titles - nope
• The insurance papers - nope
• Other important papers - nope
•  Awh hell, 50 cents even - nope

                                                           However....

• Old springs, nuts, etc - check
• Paycheck stubs dating back to 1973 - check
• Bank Book from an account closed before the Berlin Wall came down. - check
• Notes and memos that pre-date the the end of the Vietnam war. - check
• FML - check