Hoarders....

New Year's Resolution - get organised.
Just finished watching Hoarders. It's a guilty pleasure - possibly because these people have more stuff and disorder in their lives than I do, so that even when the house is in a state of utter chaos (as it is at present) at least it's not as bad as some of those homes.
What is the attraction of the show Hoarders? Perhaps it's a feeling of superiority -my place may be messy but after all no-one's ever found a mummified cat in my house! Is it that vicarious interest in other people's lives?
I really feel for these people - most want order and a clean home (some don't though) but don't seem to know where to start. The physical and emotional pain they display when their stuff is removed is palpable.
I know I have difficulty in getting rid of stuff, half of me thinks that it is good stuff, I should hang onto it for a garage sale, but another part of me thinks - be realistic, when do you have time for a garage sale - just get rid of it! Let a charity benefit from the good stuff and ditch the rest.
A big issue is the sorting. Some stuff is good, some is purely trash. It can be quite draining just making those decisions - Let me show you how my mind works. I have a broken crystal wine glass in the kitchen. Can I throw it out? Maybe after typing this I will!. Why have I kept it? Well for one even in it's broken state, it's still quite pretty. There are sentimental reasons. It was one of a pair bought to celebrate Michael coming to Brisbane to help me move to Townsville. They were the first really good glasses I had bought. One broke quite early in our marriage. They were used at all of our major celebrations. Throwing it out would not destroy the memory of those times. I don't need it as a story telling prop to retell about those times, so when it broke, why didn't I just feel regret and throw it out like I had for the partner? Well for one it was the sole remaining one(is that tautilogical?) I had an attachment to it. I also had seen a craft idea where broken stemware was used to mount highly embroidered beautiful pincushions and I thought that this would be a gorgeous way to create a memento of a treasured item. To repurpose it and help it live again. Who am I kidding? It has sat in my kitchen for a couple of years now, I haven't even gathered the velvet, beads and other stuff to turn it into a gorgeous pincushion. Will I turn it into a gorgeous pincushion in the next month? Will I ever sit down to make a gorgeous pincushion and say, gee I wish I hadn't thrown that stem out? No. Get real Sharon!
So that leads to my issue of sorting. Take my craft stuff. (please!!!) There is stuff I want to keep: scrapbooking stuff, paint, paint brushes and a small amount of fabric and wool. All the rest can go - some stuff should be donated to charity and some stuff - faded things, small things, things that have broken should be sorted. I don't want to burden charities with unsaleable stuff, nor do I want to send stuff to landfills that is still useable. This is what takes the time - making the three piles because you can sometimes spend too much time making decisions about trivial things. Take a 5cm scrap of lace - still good, not stained or ripped. Do I keep it for scrapbooking, donate to charity or throw it out? The rational person says throw it out, but I have to agonise over it!The same process may happen over a small scrap of gorgeous fabric - perhaps that could be used in a crazy patch quilt, or made into a fabulous flower.
I am getting better at lightening the load. I have over the past two years started applying the William Morris principle to my stuff "If you want a golden rule that will fit everything, this is it: Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." Great words to live buy and such a simple test.
I started in my kitchen. An example - I had 6 rolling pins. I had my original rolling pin, a decorative one painted by my father, a miniature one given to me by a friend, another bought for icing cakes (it didn't have the dints of my everyday rolling pin) and 2 other wooden rolling pins bought for the kids to use when they were little and liked to play with play dough. 3 went to charity immediately. My original, and the two kids play ones. I no longer iced cakes, so the dintless one would be the one I kept. I kept the other two decorative ones. I will be getting rid of the minature one later this month when I tackle the kitchen again. The one Dad painted will have a stay of execution, but I may need to find a function for it.
I have found I work better when I do things in small chunks. One cupboard in room at a time.
Even though my craft room is desperate, of more immediate concern is my clothing. As I am losing weight so much of my clothing is not fitting me and I have to buy more. I have so much that I fill my wardrobe, armoire, dressing table and half of the wardrobe in my craft room and still have some stuff in baskets. I want to get everything to fit into the one wardrobe and my cupboards.
I have done an initial prune. I sent all of my winter gear to charity 3 weeks ago. I now need to try on my summer gear.In this case I need to adjust the William Morris quote to be "Beautiful and useful" Clothes that are too big now need to be sent to charity. The top I wore today is a bit too baggy now to be stylish (it is still beautiful, but on me is not beautiful and is certainly no longer useful). It needs to be washed and put into a charity bag by the end of the week.
I need to rationalise the clothing that fits. I sorted it the other day. I have over 10 black blouses. I know I don't need that many. I have to decide which ones are beautiful and not just useful and cull the others. If it doesn't have a matching top or bottom, it may be beautiful but it is not useful and so must go. So my aim this week is to get that sorted.
So back to Hoarders. I think I am a recovering hoarder. How do I know?
I can now pass up a bargain if I don't need it.
I no longer feel the need to hang onto household stuff because the kids may need it if they ever move out of home.
Just because something was given to me by someone I love, I don't need to keep it just for that reason. I know that someone who loves me may feel a little pang if they know I gave something away that they gave me, but they will still love me.
I don't need to keep jars, plastic containers and boxes because they may come in handy. If I can't see an immediate use - into the recycling it goes.
I have come to realise I don't need 45 pretty mugs. If 45 of my closest friends ever drop around, they better bring their own mugs because I have less than 20!