This week I'm doing some work that can only be described as "weeding", though it's not outside in the garden. I'm going through various closets, drawers, and boxes to find and toss out all the belongings that have seemingly collected themselves throughout the years. It's easy for that to happen - all you have to do is buy new things when they're needed and forget to throw or give away the old ones.
There are:
towels too good to throw away, yet too worn to use
round tablecloths - how many years have we already had the rectangular table?
embroidered Christmas doilies, kept for sentimental reasons, yet no longer pretty
bedding no longer regularly used but kept just in case the house is full of company some day
old videos which no one has time to watch, even if we knew what was on them
bottles of cleaning fluid samples for who knows what purposes
window decorations that were used one year but not nice enough to use again
Christmas and Easter decorations from holidays past which don't go with our style anymore
more vases than I can ever fill with flowers
Weeds, weeds, weeds - but there are flowers in there that can be seen now that the other things are gone. I'm keeping old laces and linens for future patchwork possibilities, and of course I still have enough towels and bedding to put up all the company I could wish for.
There is great satisfaction - and a therapeutic effect, certainly - in the orderly contents of my closets now. Is it spring that inspires this?
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3 comments:
Good to see you have conquered the Ditch Dilemma and have enjoyed the Tossing Game. Are you a Clutter Bug or a Pack Rat or a Commemorating Scarab? Seasonal influences might depend upon type and classification.
Now there's a topic for me! *g*
There is indeed a lot of "Indoor-weeding" I should do, too. However, I'm most loth to do this unless forced by sheer necessity.(i.e. when everything is full!)
I guess I belong to both the categories of "clutter bug" and "Commemorating Scarab" (nice terms, garbage grub!)
I don't know if this character trait is inherited or overtaken by the example of the parents?
Anyway, I just hate to waste anything. I'm happy if there's an opportunity to give away the things I can't use anymore (like the "Kleidersammlung" and "Kinderkleider und Spielwarenbörse" or "Aktion 2x Weihnachten" for superfluous X-mas presents), but to actually throw away or destroy something that still could be used, almost hurts me. Unfortunately my husband is just the same type. (Or perhaps not so unfortunately, because no contention about this)And my sons turn out to be the same, specially the older one.
Fortunately I have lots of room: a large old house inherited from my parents. The drawback is, that when we moved in (12 years ago), the house was full of furniture and the wardrobes, chests and drawers and shelves all full.
However, I could use many things! I have nice silkdresses of my grandmother and my mother from the 1930ies that fit me perfectly and are fashionable again! And my boys were very fond of my old childrens books and toys (except the dolls, but I still keep those, nevertheless)
Both my boys were scouts (Pfadfinder) and often I was glad I had kept material (like old linen sheets, and all sorts of stuff they used for "Basteln" and dressing up.)
Right now we have a problem where to stow the huge "Modell-Eisenbahn - Anlage" my husband had made for the boys.
It takes sooo much time to sort out things and decide whether or not to keep them... *sigh*
I've been pondering those categories, Grub, and I'm not sure if any of them define me precisely. Maybe it's an Elven tendency - wanting to hold on to the past, unwilling to let things go, just in case...
Yes, Annette, it does take time. I went through stacks of piano music today, tossing out copies of things I won't ever need, and storing those I think will still be used so that I can find them easily. Categorizing is important, but I'm in the mood for letting go and throwing away, which is a prerequisite to this kind of task.
Having enough space is a problem - it doesn't force one to organize...
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