Too Much Stuff

Posted on Saturday 22 July 2006 at 10:45 AM in Household Projects - Post Comment

My home is cluttered. Piles here, piles there, piles everywhere. Truthfully I don't have enough storage space in my home. But that isn't an excuse to be a clutterbug. When we moved two years ago I got rid of bags and bags of stuff to the local resale shop. We also put quite a bit of trash out on the curb. But two years later I'm realizing that I still have way too much stuff. It first dawned on me when we started painting the kitchen and dining room and I began to move things out. It hit home again as I was trying to get my house ready for the company that was coming in from out of town. The final hit was hearing people from another country who were astounded not only at the size of our homes here in the states, but all the stuff that we had in them.

Do I really need every kitchen gadget known to man? Do I really need all the doilies, candles, nic nacs and decorations I have all around the house, most of which are just dust collectors and not even meaningful? Do I really need a closet jammed full of clothes, half of which I don't really care for?  Does every available space in my home have to have something stuffed in it?

Well, this is food for thought for me. The clutter is actually stressful. I'm already organizationally challenged, so having to find homes for all this stuff only makes additional chaos for me.  A lovely, peaceful home is something I long for.  When I get behind in getting things done, it's depressing for me. Add to that the fact that when I start something, I feel obligated to finish it until it's "perfect". So I could spend half the day cleaning the fridge until it's like new and not get anything else done because I spent too much time on that one thing. So I am now on a mission to declutter.  I grew up in a cluttered home.  I was also never taught how to take care of a home.  It's been a slow process to get to where I am now, and I still have more to go.

I'm not exactly sure where to start (another problem for me) but sitting here at my computer desk I'm thinking that most of the stuff here needs to go.  I'm going to make a goal to take a load of stuff off to a charity store on Monday.  I'll let you know how I do.


Matthew 6:19-20
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Matthew 6:24
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.