I am a recovering clutterer. Yes, there is such a
thing. I have hoarding tendencies that I fight against daily. I also have a bit
of an OCD problem. Growing up, I was a messy kid, shoving toys under my bed,
leaving piles of stuff on my floor. But there was always a path and I generally
knew where everything was. As I got older, I accumulated more stuff until I
have more belongings in storage boxes than I had out being used. I didn’t
understand where this was a problem until the last time I moved and we needed a
small U-Haul to carry 3 pieces of small furniture and all of my boxes of stuff.
Finally, it sank in that I had a problem and that I needed to do something
about it.
My transformation began two years ago when I moved
in with my parents. I realized that I needed to lower my “stuff footprint.” All
fine and good but where do I start? I had so much stuff I was overwhelmed by
the sheer volume. After mostly settling in, I found a box, a box of stuff that
hadn’t found a home yet, and I decided to go through this box. And so I found
my goal to go through one box, bag, drawer, bin and shelf at a time to minimize
its contents. I would do my cleaning chores on Saturday morning weekly. I would
start going through my closet monthly and pulling out clothes and shoes to pass
on. Once I had these goals in mind, I was ready to take it to the next step.
One of the more difficult aspects of organizing is
figuring out how to organize to your advantage. I know I’m a visual person so I
needed to organize with clear or open containers and color order. Before I ran
out to buy boxes and bins, I evaluated my belongings and how they should be
stored. Shoes went into clear plastic shoeboxes that now stack neatly in the
closet. Winter gear is in a plastic bin that can easily be tossed in the attic
or hall closet during the summer. While my file cabinet is in the closet, out
of sight, I have a ladder shelf with my pre-filing open top bins, one for
receipts, to-be-filed, and important papers. My closet clothes are arranged in
type order then color order, ex. sleeveless then short-sleeved then
long-sleeved, each in color order. My dresser clothes are arranged by most used
in the top drawers, like sock and t-shirts, to least used in the bottom, like
my very nice collection of exercise clothes. In the bathroom, hair supplies and
toiletries go under the main sink while facial care and cleaning supplies go
under the extra sink because I use those objects at the different sinks. So
that’s how I organize.
Now the hardest part of all of this is maintaining
the clean. Fortunately for me, though I may be a clutterer, I also have OCD
tendencies. Which means once my room is clean, it’s much easier to keep it that
way because of the compulsion to keep it clean. This is easily done with
starting the day by making the bed as soon as I get out of it. Acts as a burst
of energy and discourages me from sneaking back into bed! After that, everything
goes back in its place, wherever it came from. Shoes back in the shoeboxes in
the closet, coat on the hanger, keys on hook, phone on desk. After washing
sheets and clothes, the sheets immediately go back on the bed and the clothes
get folded and put away. If I can’t fold them right away, I at least lay out
the hanging items so that they don’t get wrinkled. My main rule is that all
clothes must be put away appropriately before bed. This rule is a lifesaver for
me; otherwise I’d have clothes hanging and hiding all over the place!
While it sounds like I have this clean room thing
down pat, truth is I can mess it up in a heartbeat. It seems like one day of
not picking up suddenly becomes a week’s worth of stuff sitting on my floor. After
I blitz-clean, I remind myself that a few minutes picking up before bed could
have saved me a few hours worth of cleaning. I also remind myself of this every
time I’m tempted to leave my clothes on the chair. I don’t want to be a
clutterer. In fact, I hate having the compulsion to cover every square inch of
flat space available in my room. I noticeably avoid my room when it’s messy and
seek sanctuary when it’s clean. So I fight against the clutter; sometimes I win,
sometimes I lose. What matters to me is that I win more than I lose. What can I
say? I’m human!
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