NO MORE STUFF

I’m in a throw everything away mood. This was inspired to a trip back to The Netherlands. I had to clear out my old house and tons of stuff from my parents house and my brothers basement. And it was a lot. I’m 28 years old but I had enough stuff for someone who is nearer to 80 years of age.

Most of my family members are horders and I think I never learned to clean or throw away when little. There where and still are always excuses to keep stuff. It will come in handy then or for that purpose. And so we keep and never throw anything away. And when I say anything I mean ANYTHING. What I’ve learned this weekend in the Netherlands is that stuff is evil. To have too much stuff is bad for your health. Both mentally and physical.

Anyway I sorted out my stuff. Many many magazines where thrown away. I have a weakness for them. I try to limit the amount I buy now. My favorite is Living from Martha Stewart. It has a bit of everything I like: gardening, crafts, cooking and general homely chit-chat. I buy that every month and I can buy 1 or max. 2 extra ones that month.

My stuff is now sorted. Here England I don’t have much, but I want to nip it in the bud this time. Me and my boyfriend will move soon and then I will have the space to give everything we own it’s own place. I shall get folders for the paperwork and make sure that our house can be decluttered in an hour. That way it can be cleaned without trouble.

You might say I’m a bit too strickt and someone once called it anal. Which I can understand. But you might not understand, and she surely didn’t, where I come from. Back home that weekend on Saturday the 24th of March I saw how I would end up. Like my parents. They have a tiny house that was build after WWII and it’s stuffed. A bit like a Turkey at Christmas might be. The house is very small even without stuff in it. But they put stuff everywhere so much so it’s hard to move and not bump into things. It’s the kinda house where you can open a door into a room and then step in but not walk. You are surrounded by stuff. I tried to throw things away. On a shelf in the dining room cupboard I cleared about ¼ of the shelve and ended with 1 big binbag full of junk. The cupboard has 5 shelves, so that is 20 bin bags if I cleared it all out. I didn’t have time, else I would have. I also cleared out a storing unit that they placed in the hallway upstairs. The hallway that is not very wide and yet they crammed bookcases and other stuff in it. You almost have to walk sideways to get through. Very claustrophobic. And that unit had gloves and hats and scarfs that have been kept for years. I found my brothers old rain trousers. They would fit his arm now instead of his legs. 20-year old stuff everywhere.

I tried to get my mom to do 1 shelf a week a year ago. She hasn’t ofcourse. And most storing units are hard to reach anyway because of the stuff in front of it. And that is usualy stuff she wants to keep. So the old stuff behind the new stuff can’t get sorted. Nothing has it’s own space. It’s junk upon junk. The stuff has multiplied over the last 20 years and it has now taken over my family’s house. It’s a shame I don’t live near by. I would take a week off work order a skip and throw so much out as to fill it and maybe order a second. The house must be emptied.

When I woke up on Saturday morning, after only being in the house for 1 night, I felt very odd. I felt depressed and sad. Then when I got going with sorting my own stuff out and some of my mom and dads I felt better. Throwing away things you don’t need or use is good. It feels as if you are creating space for you to be yourself. And less stuff clearly helps.

It’s quite a boring story, but I had to get it off my chest. NO MORE STUFF.

Help is at hand for people with similar clutter problems:
Clutter.co.uk

Picture from the Zenroom Website