The curse of the clutter
January 20th 2008 21:22
We’re all cursed in one way or another.
Mine is that I cannot throw anything out. I am the world’s worst hoarder. I am, I think, addicted to nostalgia and the ever-diminishing ‘what-if-I-need-this-one-day?’ anxiety that makes me hold onto old notes, rubber bands, the little twisty things that come off bread, and my entire collection of Weight Watchers’ books.
I still have things in my possession that I had as a little girl – a bona fide little red record player (god knows if it still works), with the only single I ever played on it (over and over and over again) ‘Living Next Door to Alice.’ An entire collection of erasers (over three hundred of them) which have, through a process of perishing, all started to melt into one another. I have photographs from the past, and a whole lot of useless but sentimental objects (like pill boxes, toothpicks made out of ivory with little animals carved onto them, pewter mustard pots and the like) that I inherited from my grandmother.
As a result, in my space there are no clean spaces, empty drawers, spots in cupboards or bookshelves in which new objects can find a home.
In moments that reveal his unsuitability to call himself my husband, he says, ‘Just chuck all this stuff out.’
I do try. I look at all these objects, these notebooks with every idea I’ve ever had jotted in them, my ridiculous collection of pens (aah the stationery addiction), my books (love my books), my clothes, my box of expired medication …. and just as I’m about to harden my heart and assign them to the Big Black Bag, the curse of the clutter revives … and a little voice whispers, ‘Someday, when you least expect it, you’re going to need a paperweight with flowers captured inside it … and then, what will you do? Huh? You’ll be sorry you ever threw this out…’
I once did a feng shui course, I still have the certificate to prove it. I got all the theory – no place for the chi to circulate, clear spaces = clear thoughts … but all I came away with was another series of objects to add to my clutter: Chinese good luck coins, little mirrors to place here and there to reflect the chi, little elephants, frogs, chimes …
I’ve heard that if you just have good storage space, you can store your clutter better. So now I’m up to my eyeballs in cute boxes and old-fashioned hat boxes and suitcases which seem to just add to the mess.
Any obsessive compulsive neat-freaks out there to give me some tips on how to shake the curse?
www.joannefedler.com
Mine is that I cannot throw anything out. I am the world’s worst hoarder. I am, I think, addicted to nostalgia and the ever-diminishing ‘what-if-I-need-this-one-day?’ anxiety that makes me hold onto old notes, rubber bands, the little twisty things that come off bread, and my entire collection of Weight Watchers’ books.
I still have things in my possession that I had as a little girl – a bona fide little red record player (god knows if it still works), with the only single I ever played on it (over and over and over again) ‘Living Next Door to Alice.’ An entire collection of erasers (over three hundred of them) which have, through a process of perishing, all started to melt into one another. I have photographs from the past, and a whole lot of useless but sentimental objects (like pill boxes, toothpicks made out of ivory with little animals carved onto them, pewter mustard pots and the like) that I inherited from my grandmother.
As a result, in my space there are no clean spaces, empty drawers, spots in cupboards or bookshelves in which new objects can find a home.
In moments that reveal his unsuitability to call himself my husband, he says, ‘Just chuck all this stuff out.’
I do try. I look at all these objects, these notebooks with every idea I’ve ever had jotted in them, my ridiculous collection of pens (aah the stationery addiction), my books (love my books), my clothes, my box of expired medication …. and just as I’m about to harden my heart and assign them to the Big Black Bag, the curse of the clutter revives … and a little voice whispers, ‘Someday, when you least expect it, you’re going to need a paperweight with flowers captured inside it … and then, what will you do? Huh? You’ll be sorry you ever threw this out…’
I once did a feng shui course, I still have the certificate to prove it. I got all the theory – no place for the chi to circulate, clear spaces = clear thoughts … but all I came away with was another series of objects to add to my clutter: Chinese good luck coins, little mirrors to place here and there to reflect the chi, little elephants, frogs, chimes …
I’ve heard that if you just have good storage space, you can store your clutter better. So now I’m up to my eyeballs in cute boxes and old-fashioned hat boxes and suitcases which seem to just add to the mess.
Any obsessive compulsive neat-freaks out there to give me some tips on how to shake the curse?
www.joannefedler.com
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Comment by Rosemary
Alpaca Notes - Tasmania
Then I feel better knowing it's helping the animals, rather than just sitting in a box here gathering dust.
That said, there are still plenty of things sitting in boxes that I can't bear to let go of
Comment by tlcorbin
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Comment by Michaelie
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Michaelie