Responses to Clobbered by Clutter

You all made me laugh! The truth came out! We are all intimidated by our clutter. We have good intentions but the spirit is weak. So what? You confessed and that may have done your spirit good. Yet we wallow in our mess. That’s OK. It’s our mess.

Here is what you said:

BR said “So I thought I had a brilliant idea of how to deal with clutter. I called it “A drawer a day.” Only one drawer – including file cabinet drawers – and in less than 365 days, my home would be mostly clutter free. Or at least I would have made space for all the stuff that is NOT in drawers at the moment.

Guess how long this great idea lasted? Two days. The first day I cleaned out a little drawer in the kitchen that had string, rubber bands and a load of random items.

Success!

Then on day 2, I made the mistake of trying to make sense of and clear a rather large drawer full of photos – trips, wedding, bar and bat mitzvahs, family visits, etc. Total chaos and loads of memories. I realized this one drawer would probably take me at least 30 days.

So I gave up.”

BR – you made me laugh!

CH has a creative solution: “I used to have stacks of charity requests waiting for my attention. I meant to respond to them in a timely manner but if I didn’t, I’d be hit with pangs of guilt. Until I decided to set up auto payments on my credit card for those charities which I felt were important and had the most need. No clutter, no guilt” Great idea.

WH puts a true spin on things: “Thanks, I’m clobbered? It’s not a good time to be suffering from a case of prosperity.” WH, you are right.

MB tells us: “Invite people over. Potential embarrassment is a great motivator.” How true.

JC tell us: “Clutter? I won the prize. When I bought my studio apartment in NYC. It was intended as a pied-a-terre. I was living in my large pool-tennis court, 4 bedroom house in Bridgehampton, working as a R.E. broker. I also owned a 2 bedroom condo in Palm Beach. Then I decided to declutter my life. I sold Bridgehampton and Palm Beach and had to consolidate all my “had to have” possessions to fit them into the NYC apartment. Talk about selective pruning. But I don’t miss a thing. The thrift shops were my savior.”

JC- you win the prize as the ultimate de-clutterer! You are the QUEEN!!!

Thank you all for reading and responding! It’s good to continue the conversation

Nancy Gold