Homemaking Tip—A Dose of My Own Medicine

It's Spring. I need to take a big swig of my own medicine . . .

My mother was a new-stuff junk-aholic. She would go shopping for hours, turn around a few weeks later and go shopping again, buying the same things all over again. I loved my mother but over-buying was a frustrating habit. I liked the stuff all right, but she had no place to put it so she stashed it everywhere. The stairwell and hall to our bedrooms were lined with stacks of towels, clothes, books and wedding gifts–all brand-new. On a given day the end of our kitchen table had piles of new fabric, genealogy supplies, cake-decorating tubes, and tart pans. The storage room had bags of groceries, Christmas presents and cases of candy. But her sewing room was the worst. She piled the ironing board high with our tissue paper art projects, while her working area was piled with papers, the mimeograph machine, typewriter, a box of mate-less socks and, of course, additional new purchases.

When my grandmother came to visit us she spent her time cutting quilt blocks from old fabric, organizing baby books, filing papers, making puppets from lonely socks and tidying my mother’s sewing room. Shortly after I left for college, Grandma Erma went to see my folks and wrote me the following letter:

“You know your mother’s tiny room where she tries to do the laundry, ironing and sewing, but which she also uses as a study and office? Well, she needs a warehouse. I told her that I longed to solve the muddle, but that it reminds me of Mt. Ararat. I read that on Mt. Ararat there is a place where the human voice can start an avalanche. I’m afraid if I get in her study, and try to make it orderly, that I might forget where I am and call for help then I’ll be forever lost in the avalanche that is sure to follow.”

My mother was such a powerful example of collecting excess that I adopted the other extreme of getting rid of things. Some may think I'm heartless, but I've almost always lived in a small (ish) home and so it has served us well, and I have only gotten rid of two things in the last 25 years that I regret: Raggedy Anne and Raggedy Andy.

I bought the much worn, essentially ruined set of dolls at a yard sale for 50 cents. As I carried the soiled dolls to the vendor for purchasing, the 60-ish woman said, “Oh good. I was hoping someone would want these. My grandmother made them for me.” Looking at the fabric, then at the vendor I supposed those dolls were made in the 1930's. I brought the dolls home washed them, re-stitched their faces and hair and sat them on my pie-safe. They were darling. But as I was preparing items to sell in a craft show, I rashly decided to sell Anne and Andy. I put the hefty price of $40 on each of them, thinking $80 would erase any chance of remorse if they did, by chance, sell. Imagine my surprise when they were gone 30 minutes after the show began. But I was wrong, $80 was not enough. I still feel an occasional twinge of regret when I think of those two darling dolls gone. But to only have two regrets after all these years? The peace of an orderly home has more than made up for the mistake.

With that disclaimer (or endorsement, whichever you prefer to call it) –I offer a de-junking tip. Start. at. the. bottom. William R. Bradford said, “A cluttered life is a life that you do not have control of. I have learned that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to declutter one’s life by starting at the top of the pile with the idea that the solution is to just get things sorted and better organized. It is nice to get better organized, but that is not enough. Much has to be discarded. We must actually get rid of it.” (“Unclutter Your Life,” Ensign, May 1992, 27)

Clutter refers to many areas of our lives. Our minds can become cluttered with negative thoughts or images. Our schedules can become cluttered with insignificant appointments and events. Our hearts can become cluttered with jealousies and unforgiving attitudes. But for the purpose and intent of today's post, we’ll focus on THINGS—things that clutter our home, garage, yard, and car. Here are four decluttering articles:

How to Decide What to Toss

When to Sort

Where to Start Decluttering

Where to Toss that Clutter

When we unclutter our surroundings, we unclutter our time and energy as well—and that is priceless. It’s even worth throwing out a Raggedy Anne or two.