July 30, 2007
-
Sorting, Purging, and Organizing
I’ve been off-line this week, immersed in a sorting, purging, and organizing extravaganza. I have always been something of a packrat, finding it very difficult to get rid of whatever I acquire, but for years I have felt overly burdened with STUFF. Most of it I rarely if ever use, and frequently the things I want to use are too far buried beneath things I don’t that I can’t find them. During several moves when I was living in Florida, I carted stuff from one rented storage area to another without even opening up boxes between moves – knowing I would just have to pack them up again. When I left Florida for Missouri, I began a gradual yet dedicated process of paring down my belongings. There is still a long way to go until I have what I think of as a reasonable (instead of excessive) amount of stuff, but finally I am feeling it begin to get there, hurray!
My current living space consists of 450 sq ft indoors and a detached shed (much smaller than what I was used to), and when I first moved in I had so many boxes all over the place I could see very little floor, and it felt very overcrowded, cluttered and sort of chaotic. In the last 3 years I have been gradually but steadily downsizing my collection of material belongings and realizing how much better it feels in here with more room to breathe, to think, to feel, to be has inspired me to continue on. I periodically get these urges to pare down another layer, and have been struck by one this week more strongly than usual, enabling me to get rid of stuff I didn’t need or really even want ,but felt too attached to part with. Of course as with many things it gets worse before it gets better, and at the moment there is stuff EVERYWHERE in complete disarray both inside the cabin and outside under a huge tarp as I am going through it deciding its fate. But, between Goodwill, recycling, and garbage I have already gotten rid of a solid carful this time.
Fortunately, May the dog and Abie the cat are keeping me company throughout the process, both indoors and out. See Abie below in his little blue lounge chair? He seems to like supervising my efforts.
I am so grateful for the wonderful river, and my daily reward is to go down there with May and commune with the fish, crayfish, snails, frogs, turtles, dragonflies, birds, and occasional deer we find down there! It feels so cleansing purifying and reconnecting to be swimming there among all those beautiful creatures.
I look forward to resuming reading your blogs when I get a better handle on the chaos around the cabin.
Comments (11)
I have a difficult time getting rid of things too, especially books and collectibles. I love turning trash into treasure, so there’s always another project sitting somewhere.
I’m glad you’ve been able to do this and it’s helping you feel better. Clutter bogs me down too. So why is that the people affected most by clutter are the ones who hold onto everything? What a twist that becomes.
I’ve been wondering how your letter was received by the neighbor about the well. Any response yet?
good luck with your purging! ~Colleen
I joined this thing online called Fly Lady. She taught me to really declutter and evaluate what I really wanted to keep and what I wanted to surround myself with. When my outside world was cluttered so was my mind. http://www.flylady.net/pages/FlightPlan.asp here is fly lady’s site. Happy decluttering. Living a simple life is important. Judi
Wow! We have been trying (notice I said ‘trying’?) for several years now without much success.
It’s now or never, I guess.
Nice kitty, loved the little chair!
Hugs!
The pictures didn’t show the first time I was here. You do have a little stuff to get rid of, don’t you?
That cat looks pretty content…..great picture.
oh my. you have just written the story of my husband’s life. the plight of the packrat. i’m just the opposite, i want only what i can carry on my back, but we’ve been together over 20 years, and there’s no winning against the *ultimate* packrat. the one who’s not the packrat always always always loses that battle. and believe me there were times i threatened to leave because i could not walk in our place.
we both took a ceramics course together last fall semester, and got into this discussion with our instructor who’s about our age. she told me that the things that richard collects (you name it, it’s out there in the storage shed or somewhere, but you can’t find it if you wanted it,,,it’s buried…most of it) and keeps “because he might need it one day” is the sign of a true artist. sigh. and you know what (not to discourage your aiming for a bit more minimalism here)? she is right. the more i get into creating things, i think of things i know richard has….SOMEWHERE!…it’s just finding them. which is very frustrating, not being able to get to them when you think of them and a use, a need for them. it’s even more frustrating than having the pile-up there to begin with. years of living with this has sort of levelled me out about it. i gave. he kept stuff. and maybe now we’re both winners about it…if ONLY I CAN FIND what i’m looking for, and what he’s looking for, in the pile-up. i’ve often thought “well, we just need more space.” but in reality, that would just give him more room to collect.
sorry about the book here.
We too are paring down belongings. Or should I say I too. My husband doesn’t have nearly the junk that I do or did. But since we downsized we have had a tough time finding and sorting things. Looks like we only downsized our space. Its getting better though. I have decided I have been selfish in hiding all this stuff that others could use, but the packrat in me just doesn’t always want to let go. Oh yeah, mind if I subscribe?
Yes, I love the cleansing of the waters as it flows by….. hoping to go down today to hang out by the lake on a day the ‘little car people are at work.
Have a great week
I can’t tell about how much my mom complains about me being a packrat! I guess it truly is remarkable some of the stuff I have saved over the years. I just can’t find myself to throw it all out!
It is good to know that you are well. I’m back on xanga now too, so I look forward to talking with you once again.
I find sorting out my enviroment sorts out my mind. Judi
Glad you liked the pictures. What kind of a forest do you live in? Judi