This is going to be long – I apologise.
For the last 8+ months, I’ve really struggled with feeling ‘closed in’ by stuff. I have tried organising myself, and tidying up, but even after my efforts, the house still looks untidy and like everything isn’t in its right place.
I mean, it could be because we have quite a bit of ‘stuff’ (despite my efforts to reduce the amount of stuff) and only a small house with very little built-in storage – which then requires the need to buy free-standing storage, which in turn takes up floor space, eventuating in rooms looking even more ‘busy’ or cluttered than they did before.
It’s literally driving me crazy – I come home and I feel instantly depressed by the amount of crap surrounding me.
I’ve been through all my clothes about 5 times in the last 6 or so months to throw out what I don’t need, but I’m seriously down to just the stuff I wear all the time now. We only have a small wardrobe (about 3 foot wide, and we share that) and a tallboy chest of drawers (two drawers each). That’s it for clothes storage.
I’m in the process of clearing out our spare room, which is again full of crap, but there’s stuff in there I just can’t bring myself to throw out, even though I know I haven’t even touched it, let alone used it, for the last 12 months. Stuff that has sentimental value, or “I will use it one day” value. So that’s all sitting on the spare room bed at the moment, waiting for me to look at it again.
My next huge issue is our study/office. We have literally 5 book shelves in here, only two of them contain any books. One houses a printer (two shelved bookcase), the other holds my computer games and a couple of baskets of more stuff I can’t bring myself to throw out (four shelve, narrow bookcase), and the other one (the largest) holds the majority of our DVDs. Hubby has been an angel in going through all the DVDs and cleaning out all the ‘illegitimate’ ones (all the copies) and putting them in a CD wallet, but there’s still a mass of them and even though they’re stacked neatly, it still looks messy. I’ve been looking for alternative accommodation for them, namely a chest of drawers or something that will house all of them out of sight.
This is all before I even mention the kitchen, dining room and lounge room.
I’m really ripping my hair out here. It’s driving me completely mental, depressed and in tears nearly every day over this shit. Tomorrow I’m going to go put ‘No Junk Mail’ stickers on the mailbox, so we can at least limit that coming into the house, but what about the rest?
I know there’s people in the world way worse off than me, but damn having no money sucks ass.
Told myself I wouldn’t worry so much about money this year – I’m worrying about it more than ever.
I need some hints and tips on how to declutter.
I, personally, love to be organised – I’m always organised at work and I try to be at home. However, because we only have a small house and so much stuff, the house always seems cluttered regardless of how much ‘tidying up’ I do. I’m trying to take it one step at a time and declutter one area one day, another the next, etc. but by the time I finish the last area, the first one is a mess again.
Our kitchen, frankly, pisses me off because although we have underbench cupboards and drawers that are full, we still have so much crap on the countertops – like the toaster, chopping boards, the kettle and tea, coffee, etc. I’ve wondered if I should get separate little containers for the pantry and keep all of this stuff in there, but it’s so convenient having it on the counter.
In fact, typing out this blog entry has helped me think of ways to declutter the kitchen- the teas and such that we don’t use regularly can go away, while the coffee and sugar that we used on a daily basis can stay on the counter in square canisters that can be shoved right into the corner. Me thinks I will be buying some containers tomorrow! But what about the toaster? We can’t really shove it away in a cupboard because we use it every day and it would be a hassle to get it out all the time. What about chopping boards? Again, we use them daily, along with the kettle too.
My greatest problem is our bedroom – its small, so only a small amount of furniture will fit in and therefore limits storage space. Also, it’s the last place I am of a day and it’s always at a time where I can’t be fucked with putting stuff away, folding clothes, etc. Just can’t be fucked. So the bedroom floor is consistently a mess. I have tried clearing out huge amounts of clothes (and am currently sitting next to two bags of clothes ready to head to St Vincent de Paul) but there still seems to be too much. I’ve asked Michael to remind me that every time I buy a new item of clothing, I have to throw a piece out (in that sense, I’m replacing clothes rather than adding to my wardrobe). So if I buy a shirt, I have to throw one out. If I buy a pair of jeans, get rid of the old ones (I only really ever wear jeans till they have holes in them anyway).
How do you keep yourself organised?
P.S. – I turned 23 on Monday. How much more responsible and mature does 23 sound compared to 22? Heaps, I reckon.
As part of my encouragement to get blogging again, I’m following a list of things to blog and/or post about (seeing as some are pictures). I’m not particularly interested in following the list in order, and I’ve already missed a couple of days so it’s not going to be perfect, but it’s a good guide to get some blog writing going.
Today’s item is to take a photo of myself and post a description of how my day was.
My day started at about 5:00am when the dog woke up, but she was fine once I fed her and let her out for a pee. I’m really tired today as we were out late at a friend’s house for dinner, so I slept in till about 7:30 before getting up, having some breakfast and getting ready to go out.
I went and had a massage at 9:00am, to get rid of some tension and pain in my neck & shoulders, which was really relaxing – something I really needed. I went to the supermarket after that to grab a few things, then to get some breakfast. Took that home, ate with Michael and I’ve pretty much been sitting at my computer the rest of the day.
Michael is going out tonight with Dominic (husband of one of my work colleagues) so I’m heading up to their house, taking some dinner with me as she’s home with a nearly 4-week old baby, and we’re going to sit and watch Meet the Little Fockers.
I guess after that I’ll be coming home and going to bed!
Not a really eventful day, actually 
