Is it crazy to be excited about doing a house-purge? I’m moving next week, and oh my gosh I am excited about throwing stuff away! Makes me wonder about myself…I admit!
Can housecleaning be part of self care? You bet! A big part of self care is about allowing yourself to have lovely things, and discarding things you don’t need/want/absolutely love. Self care, I believe, is also about creating a space for yourself that is peaceful, manageable, and has ambience. Moving is a time to rethink everything you have in your home and ask yourself these questions. Have I used this *whatever it is* in the past 6 months to a year? Do I absolutely love this *whatever it is* – and if I don’t absolutely love it, why is it still hanging around? Do I really need it? Can I afford to recycle or donate it? Or does it just have to be tossed?
They say a cluttered house creates a cluttered mind or vice versa…and it surely has for me. I feel at my best when my home is tidy and everything is in it’s place. Not that that happens too often around my house…but it is happening more and more these days. I’ve struggled with clutter most of my life…but I’m getting better! In my life, clutter has created overwhelm, which in turn creates clutter, which in turn creates overwhelm. It’s been a downward spiral. One site that has really helped me with my clutter problem over the years is Flylady. The FLY in flylady stands for…Finally Loving Yourself. She helps those of us that have had clutter issues and overwhelm climb over those two huge mountainous blobs, one babystep at a time.
I’ve de-cluttered in major ways over these past years. It’s so easy (especially when kids live at home!) to live with stuff we don’t really want or need. But it sits there or is stuffed away in a closet with the idea that maybe someday I’ll need it! But someday never comes…
Last year I (along with several wonderful volunteers) decluttered the office where I work – 30 + years of ‘stuff’ – that was totally unnecessary to the functioning of that office. Instead, it weighed them down. While it wasn’t fun, and it took almost a whole year of working on and off, it was a huge feeling of accomplishment when it was finished!
So, I guess I get excited because it feels so good to get rid of ‘stuff’. Anyhow, here I go! Wish me luck!
Someone Like Me... 