Things I learned while decluttering
1. Even after three carloads of stuff (clothes, linens, books) cleared out in just this past month, not to mention the multiple carloads we've donated in the past two years (yes, it's taken that long!), our apartment still has more stuff in it than when we moved in, nine years ago. Quite a lot of the stuff that we've been giving away we brought with us (not counting my son's outgrown clothes and toys), so where did all the rest come from? It's like it just grew here. Or walked in on its own. I certainly don't remember buying it. Or did I?
2. I have plenty of clothes. Over the years, I have had more than enough money to buy more than enough clothes, even enough money to buy fairly expensive clothes. To judge from the clothes that I actually wear, I look best at the moment in deep blues, purples, greens and black.
3. Back in the 1990s, before it sold out to the beauty fascists, Yoga Journal used real people in its asana layouts as well as publishing substantial articles across a wide range of philosophies and issues. Now every model looks like, well, a model, and the articles (except Sally Kempton's) are fluff. No wonder I've lost faith in the movement.
4. My mother and her boyfriend used to visit us quite a lot back in the day when my son was young, my father was still alive and my niece had not yet been born (datable by the last photo in the lot, of said niece at a few days old). Or maybe it's just that she doesn't send us copies of the photographs that she takes when she comes to visit, now that we (my siblings and I) bought her a digital camera and she doesn't print them out.
5. I used to be quite pretty when I was younger, before my hair went gray. But I definitely look better now with my hair gray, not colored. I look like a freak in all of the photos that were taken while I was coloring my hair (about six years, until my dad died). Except the ones where my sister did my make-up for me one day, where I look like every gorgeous fashion model in the magazines, only prettier.
6. I like all of my books again. I was angry at them for being inaccessible, when the books that I like were being crowded out by all the books that I was never going to read again, but that I was keeping, "just in case." Now that I've gotten rid of all the books that were oppressing me, I have plenty to read again, including novels. I've started on a Peter Wimsey re-read to celebrate.
7. I love my husband. Funny how decluttering helps clear up emotional congestion, too.
2. I have plenty of clothes. Over the years, I have had more than enough money to buy more than enough clothes, even enough money to buy fairly expensive clothes. To judge from the clothes that I actually wear, I look best at the moment in deep blues, purples, greens and black.
3. Back in the 1990s, before it sold out to the beauty fascists, Yoga Journal used real people in its asana layouts as well as publishing substantial articles across a wide range of philosophies and issues. Now every model looks like, well, a model, and the articles (except Sally Kempton's) are fluff. No wonder I've lost faith in the movement.
4. My mother and her boyfriend used to visit us quite a lot back in the day when my son was young, my father was still alive and my niece had not yet been born (datable by the last photo in the lot, of said niece at a few days old). Or maybe it's just that she doesn't send us copies of the photographs that she takes when she comes to visit, now that we (my siblings and I) bought her a digital camera and she doesn't print them out.
5. I used to be quite pretty when I was younger, before my hair went gray. But I definitely look better now with my hair gray, not colored. I look like a freak in all of the photos that were taken while I was coloring my hair (about six years, until my dad died). Except the ones where my sister did my make-up for me one day, where I look like every gorgeous fashion model in the magazines, only prettier.
6. I like all of my books again. I was angry at them for being inaccessible, when the books that I like were being crowded out by all the books that I was never going to read again, but that I was keeping, "just in case." Now that I've gotten rid of all the books that were oppressing me, I have plenty to read again, including novels. I've started on a Peter Wimsey re-read to celebrate.
7. I love my husband. Funny how decluttering helps clear up emotional congestion, too.
You look quite gorgeous with white hair. Maybe you are a polar bear! An armored polar bear, a la Philip Pullman. I like that image of you.
ReplyDeleteI like wearing those colors too- those are precisely the rules I used when clearing out my closet two weeks ago! I understand your problem with chronic clutter. I'm not an overly neat person (at all), but having so much more stuff than I need makes me feel guilty and greedy and to all those shirts I wore on a less than yearly basis I say good riddance! Anyway, I'm glad you're learning so much.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Bodhibadger and ladylechuga! I like the image of myself as an armored bear--maybe an armored bear in purple and green! I wonder if real polar bears have problem with clutter? This bear certainly does!
ReplyDelete