Mum Vizzie

I have about 2 months before I move and so I have been cleaning-purging-packing. One of the things I've been dreading the most is the garage. Ugh. When I first moved here, I was down there a lot because I had my art studio set up, along with carpet, my wicker furniture--it was pretty swanky.  But I've not spent a lot of time there in the last coupla years & the space has become more of a catch-all for stuff. STUFF. Anyway, Mum has been nagging encouraging me to tackle the garage & when she offered to help, I was relieved but also trepidatious. She's so organized, and we know I'm a spreader.

So she came over this past Wednesday. We had tea before, and I showed her an episode of America's Messiest Home before we started to clean--you know, just for contrast:

Webster's Dictionary is going to use this photo to illustrate HORROR.

Then for added measure, I showed her an episode of Hoarders. This was a good episode, and by "good" I mean disgusting. Janet, a retired nurse, was living without plumbing or heat. Her house was FILLED with not just stuff, but trash. She climbed over it to get to her chair (kinda like the one Mum is sitting in) where she said she didn't really need heat because she stayed warm under 7 blankets. When they asked about the plumbing, she said she went outside where it was "private." But as she's saying this, the camera is panning to the urine-filled bottles strewn along the mountain of stuff. Oh, but it gets worse. Because, then you're thinking, What about Number 2? When her son goes to investigate, he steps on a plastic bag and it breaks open. No, not a diaper. Just a bag. Of poo. Eeeewwwww!  And then Janet blames the flimsiness of the bag. Yes, it's the bag's fault. Stoopid bag for breaking.

Then we had lunch. Kidding. We ate before Pee Bottle Nurse. And then we went down to the garage. Suddenly, my clutter wasn't looking so bad. And we cleared it out in an afternoon. Done & done! And Mum even said, "This isn't so bad."  Hahahaha  THANKS, Mum!  I couldn't have done it without you!

Another message about clutter

I woke up at 3:30 a.m. so I pulled Your Heart's Desire off the shelf. I turned to this quote:

Chaos, sloppiness, unfinished business, and clutter are energy bandits, stealing away your time! ...Is your house in order? Is it stuffed with unnecessary junk? Are you hanging onto something simply . . . because it's there? Clear the decks. Donate. Recycle. Share. Have a yard sale. Make room for new energy and life force to flow into your life.

I have boxes in the basement that I still have not unpacked. It's been almost 2 years. I'm thinking they're not that important. Guess what I'm doing this weekend?!

Spring Cleaning

The above quote comes from Kathryn L. Robyn via Sarah Ban Breathnach's Moving On. I'm reading it for the 4th time. The theme for this month and in my life and in this season seems to be about clutter. And getting rid of it. Not that you would know from the snow that fell last night, but we were starting to have spring around here. Starting. Still, a good time to stay indoors, warm and cozy & go thru some boxes. Which I would do if I were in my little river house. As it is, I'm still at Mum's, and Mum is still in Santa Domingo because her flight was cancelled due to snow in Atlanta. Lousy Smarch weather. Oh well. Tea, anyone? Have a cozy day.

SPRING CLEAN

I aspire. I'm not even at my own house right now, but I'm feeling the sap rising--that impetus to start tossing stuff out. I'm rereading Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston. Most books about organization are written by naturally organized people who don't understand how clutterbugs can be that way. They have such helpful tips as:

OHIO: Only Handle It Once
Create a system
Everything has a place, & a place for everything.
Tackle one thing at a time.
If you haven't used it in a year, chuck it.
Put things back when you're finished.
Repair it or chuck it.

And so on. It's all so common sense. But to paraphrase John Morgan, it's not your intellect that got you into this mess and it's not your intellect that will get you out. Enter Karen Kinston, who acknowledges and respects the subconscious. "Your home is an outward representation of what is going on inside you, so if you are messy on the outside there is a corresponding mess of some kind on the inside too. By sorting out the outer, the inner starts slotting neatly into place. "

It's interesting how she relates emotional states to disorganization. She said she's never met a "depressed" person who didn't have a mess of a house. Which came first? It doesn't matter. Your environment is what keeps you stuck where you are. To paraphrase Bruce Lipton, "Change your environment, change your life."

Your subconscious mind will suppress these things nicely for you if you ask it to, but it takes a lot of your energy to do so.

We're still talking about our homes, right? Oh, she delves into way more!

P.S. John had a great post on clutter a few months ago with an interesting meditation exercise. Go see.