I’d like to write a little more about decluttering, but first, I need another cup of coffee. I roasted coffee beans yesterday and oh man, does today’s pot of coffee taste FRESH. I posted about roasting coffee recently, if you didn’t see it, here is the post:
http://lynnkz.wordpress.com/2009/06/20/roast-your-own-coffee-its-easier-than-you-think/
So, does anyone watch Niecy Nash on Clean House, looking for the messiest home in the country? My husband recently found this show while looking around for something to watch (summer TV is a bit of a drag) and I have always loved these kinds of shows. When my kids were smaller and I needed a little escape time, I would turn on Clean Sweep to hear Peter Walsh give it to some packrats. Part of the reason I like these shows is that while I have some packrat tendencies, I look like a clean freak when compared to the people on the shows. Plus, it does remind me to keep on top of my own junk. I don’t always like all their decorating and organizing ideas, but occasionally get a few good tips and always get some inspiration to do a little cleaning.
Well, earlier this week, we watched Ms. Nash try to help the “winners” of the messiest home contest – a mother and daughter in Ohio. I have never seen anything like these two people! In the show, Niecy and her team help the people sort out all their junk and have a yard sale before embarking on styling the house in a new and organized fashion. Well, while the mother continued throughout the show to insist she did not have a shopping and hoarding problem, they had to rent a 7000 square foot retail space in order to host the garage sale. SEVEN THOUSAND SQUARE FEET! And while it was not packed, it was well filled.
At the end of the show, the mother stormed off angry and would not participate in the rest of the “final reveal” when she concluded that some of her grandmother’s purses she had set aside to save could not be found. I am not surprised such a thing happened with the volume of stuff they had to deal with. I cannot imagine sorting through that much stuff in a short time and not losing something precious, although for people who keep that much stuff, EVERYTHING seems precious (until the mice nest in it!).
Anyhow, if you have not seen it, try to catch it today or tomorrow. They are rerunning it at least a couple more times. You can see the upcoming schedule at the following website, though you will have to check your cable or dish service to find the channel:
http://www.mystyle.com/mystyle/shows/cleanhouse/index.jsp
The end result of watching the show for me was to recharge me on getting back to decluttering. Yesterday I tackled the small task of getting the last few boxes out of our bedroom that got stashed up there during the remodel. Most contained books that my husband intends to put back on his office bookshelf so they are currently stacked on the floor in there, but hopefully he’ll trip over them enough to take care of them! I did get rid of a stack of wine reference books no one has looked at in probably 10 years. I also did find a pair of adult sized wooden shoes from a high school trip to Holland…..I think I can be pretty sure I will never actually wear those, so they went into the donation box. Speaking of shoes, today I need to go into my closet and pull out two pairs to donate since I brought home two new pairs of shoes earlier this week. I think that “one item in; one item out” is a good rule in general (as long as you’ve done some good clearing out earlier, otherwise maybe it should be “one in, two out!”), as long as you allow yourself to make exceptions. But in this case, I can certainly find two pairs of shoes I don’t wear much to make room for two pairs I hopefully will wear often.
Now I am pondering what can be decluttered next. One thing about the mother on the Clean House show was her hoarding of dishes – they finally convinced her that she should keep two sets – one for every day and one for special occasions. I already have my every day dishes and good holiday dishes in the house, but I have a few Rubbermaid totes in the garage filled with Depression glass I collected in college. I have always felt that if you have things like that, you should actually use them, but it is too much effort right now to go out and dig in the tubs to find what I want. So I was thinking I might make some space in the laundry room cabinets for some of the dishes so that I can actually pull them into use once in a while. Otherwise, it could be time to sell some of them…
Enjoy your holiday weekend and maybe use it to do a little dejunking. I have to say, our bedroom is now a lovely haven again and I hope to keep it that way.
Best regards,
Lynn
