So in my defence I have downsized, closed a workplace and emptied a storage unit all in the space of one month. Which only partly explains why I am now overcrowded and living in a muddled, untidy mess. A close relative actually had the temerity to suggest I may actually be a hoarder!
But haven't we all become hoarders and collectors of clutter? Hasn't hoarding become almost obligatory?
Don't we all suffer from drawers full of colorful lost leads and wires, batteries that are always somehow not the ones we seek. Ironing baskets overladen, never enough time to manage those difficult garments, just buy something simpler. Cupboards full of longlife rice packets, well past their use by date, just in case!
Then let's look at our in the cloud hoarding. How many emails have you read and saved for later, playlists downloaded and never played, apps never used despite their shiny come play me calls?
So its not only the physical clutter, we steadfastly collect invisible clutter too. Online classes, subscription and membership sites, upfront fees paid for photos, discount deals all used so intermittently it was never worth our while.
So how to decide what to keep and what to lose. Or maybe the question should be, what to keep and what to share?
It feels so much easier to declutter if we feel others will benefit, that work suit brought in the sale which proved to be so uncomfortable to wear that it only had the one outing. The picnic bag that was weatherproof and perfectly pink, that somehow was always replaced by the idea of eating out. These are items that could be used later but are in reality taking up our physical space and our attention every time we have to move them to get to something else.
Would it be easier to let go of these potentially useful items and share with someone who needs them? Donate to a charity or goodwill shop, or give direct to someone who will be pleased to be able to use them?
Its this concept of sharing with the universe that helps us to finally let go. For now we see there is a determined benefit in letting go. Someone else will gain and we will avoid showering ourselves with feelings of being financially careless. All thoughts of self recrimination of being wasteful and a spendthrift or worse being capable of bad buying decisions can now all be safely avoided.
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We can treasure what we keep and get to enjoy the space around the items, all the while knowing our previous items are still out there somewhere, for isn't it true that nothing ever leaves the universe. Not even our clutter?