Clutter Makes me Shudder
Sometimes.
And other times I'm a total hypocrite, because the place is a total pigsty. Right now my kitchen table looks like this:
Dishes, notebook, shirt, water bottles, coffee, sunscreen, shirt, lunch bag, dry erase board... For some reason, it doesn't bother me at the moment. There are other times when I walk into a room and practically go into anaphylactic shock because of the clutter.
I think I've figured out why it bothers me sometimes, but not always. If an item has a known home, I don't stress too much. For example, the dishes don't usually stress me out, because I know that once I wash them (later today or tomorrow or next week), they all have specific homes, all in the same vicinity. Now, if there are a bunch of things in a big pile, and their homes are in a dozen different places, then I might need to close my eyes and take a deep breath to calm myself. The worst stress inducers are the things that don't belong anywhere, or there are multiple possible places where each could be stored.
And mail. Wow mail drives me bonkers. Maybe I shouldn't throw mail under the bus like that. After all, it does pay the bills. We have a mail sorter, which is full. Plus there's a pile in the corner of the counter. I just wish I had the desire to deal with it appropriately and promptly.
Nothing ends up on the receiving end of my clutter hatred than toys, especially cheap toys. I also don't like toys that don't get played with, but rather just get dumped out. I wish I could say that about the blocks, LEGOs and Magnatiles, but the kids dump them out AND play with them. I can't say the same thing about a lot of other toys up in my kids' room.
But you know what I really like? I really like purging. I love throwing things away or dropping off bags and boxes of stuff at the Salvation Army. It never lasts, because somehow crap always ends up back in our house. Maybe I'll have a "no toys allowed" Christmas this year...
Anyway, the reason I'm thinking about clutter and purging is because this morning the kids and I went to church to clean out the church nursery. A couple little ones from our church got sick (HFMD), and I figured that now was as good of a time as any to give the play room another once over. I should've taken before and after pictures! Before, there were toys that were not age-appropriate, toys in the wrong places, and of course some dirt in all the corners. Plenty of toys didn't make the cut of course. It sure felt good to get that room all cleaned up, and now it looks awesome!
And now, I need to clean up the mess in my own house!
And other times I'm a total hypocrite, because the place is a total pigsty. Right now my kitchen table looks like this:
Dishes, notebook, shirt, water bottles, coffee, sunscreen, shirt, lunch bag, dry erase board... For some reason, it doesn't bother me at the moment. There are other times when I walk into a room and practically go into anaphylactic shock because of the clutter.
I think I've figured out why it bothers me sometimes, but not always. If an item has a known home, I don't stress too much. For example, the dishes don't usually stress me out, because I know that once I wash them (later today or tomorrow or next week), they all have specific homes, all in the same vicinity. Now, if there are a bunch of things in a big pile, and their homes are in a dozen different places, then I might need to close my eyes and take a deep breath to calm myself. The worst stress inducers are the things that don't belong anywhere, or there are multiple possible places where each could be stored.
And mail. Wow mail drives me bonkers. Maybe I shouldn't throw mail under the bus like that. After all, it does pay the bills. We have a mail sorter, which is full. Plus there's a pile in the corner of the counter. I just wish I had the desire to deal with it appropriately and promptly.
Nothing ends up on the receiving end of my clutter hatred than toys, especially cheap toys. I also don't like toys that don't get played with, but rather just get dumped out. I wish I could say that about the blocks, LEGOs and Magnatiles, but the kids dump them out AND play with them. I can't say the same thing about a lot of other toys up in my kids' room.
But you know what I really like? I really like purging. I love throwing things away or dropping off bags and boxes of stuff at the Salvation Army. It never lasts, because somehow crap always ends up back in our house. Maybe I'll have a "no toys allowed" Christmas this year...
Anyway, the reason I'm thinking about clutter and purging is because this morning the kids and I went to church to clean out the church nursery. A couple little ones from our church got sick (HFMD), and I figured that now was as good of a time as any to give the play room another once over. I should've taken before and after pictures! Before, there were toys that were not age-appropriate, toys in the wrong places, and of course some dirt in all the corners. Plenty of toys didn't make the cut of course. It sure felt good to get that room all cleaned up, and now it looks awesome!
And now, I need to clean up the mess in my own house!
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