Clutter, Clutter, Clutter! Cleaning, Cleaning, Cleaning!

I started with my medicine cabinets…trashing old expired medicines, giving away stacks of books and clothes I never wear. And, why am I saving Christmas cards from years ago (well, I do not throw away cards from my children), piles of papers, oh and the tower of magazines and catalogs stacked on my den floor next to where I sit on the couch and drawers full of who knows what. It’s called clutter, clutter and more clutter and the more it collects the less I wanted to deal with the mess. I miss my home office and file cabinet but no room for one now.  I even bought a junk drawer organizer and it is now overflowing and looks like a typical junk drawer again!

Eliminating clutter and did I mention the (dust) in areas where it is hard to get to?  Oh my.....makes me feel good to clean up this mess. Don't get the wrong impression, I'm not a slob or have a dirty house, I just need more space.  I just don’t want anymore of anxiety and hours of frustration added to my day, as I pull wrinkled clothes from my closet because they’re jammed in there so tight. I want to regain my space back which is hard to do in a very small condo.  I have tons of clothes that are too small and believe it or not some are too big.........why am I saving this stuff?  I think it's because I see dollar signs dumping them......not so much that I think I will fit into that size 8 again.......when you grow up living in hand me downs from a large family.......my clothes and shoes mean a great deal to me because I worked hard to be able to purchase them in the first place.

I started clearing out my clutter over the weekend. I reminded myself to start small, by clearing out one drawer in my dresser, one closet, or one shelf and started in my bedroom first. The last time I did this, I was so overwhelmed and stopped half way through the process as I  lacked the motivation to complete the unpleasant task with the excuse that I ran out of large green trash bags to dispose of all the stuff I no longer need.

I used to be more organized when I lived in a larger home and had a place for everything! I have to get my power back and stop fighting against what I have to do. I have been procrastinating and dreading and avoiding this awful task of decluttering as I did this just a few years back and I guess I accumulated more clutter again!

The first change I have to do is to change my attitude. And, that can be done without any bending or lifting or throwing stuff in a trash bag……….then that other awful chore of carrying all this stuff to the dumpster.

I realized that changing my attitude to accomplish and complete the task surely helps.  Only one problem……about six months from now………there is more CLUTTER AGAIN! I went through this last year and only made a mild dent. Which to me means, I need more SPACE or I just have to stop shopping to fill in the spaces I just cleared!  LOL