Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Did Someone Utter “Clutter”?

I despise clutter almost as much as I do dishonesty and onions. Fact is, even a little clutter sends me into ADHD mode. I start bouncing off the walls and acting like my hiking buddy, Bob, before his glass of wine. I just can’t think clearly if my space is messy.

One way I keep things neat is by not accumulating stuff. When I receive mail that I need to keep, I look for older paper I can recycle, shred, or burn, just as one would do with old boyfriends. And with replacing myself: When I leave this earth, I will have one child to replace me.

I don’t buy things I don’t need and haven’t for a couple of decades. Okay, I probably don’t need wine, but…

When I find things in my home I don’t need, I give them away to the appropriate person or organization.

When a friend offers to give me something she no longer needs, I really contemplate the gift. If it’s not food, money, or a cute guy, I will probably decline the offer.

Some of us Wisconsin natives have a container fetish. After the 32 ounces of yogurt is gone, the container goes into the dishwasher for later use. I fill its emptiness with spaghetti, vegetable soup, dead cow for the dog, pieces of former boyfriend. I stick masking tape to the top or side and label it.

Typically I take excess containers to the soup kitchen, so they can fill them with food for the homeless and those with little to no income. But lately I’m becoming daring: I’m tossing very-used, dirty plastic containers into the recycle bin! It’s a strange feeling, but once I take it to the recycler, I feel relieved, like after taking a laxative.

So if you want to reduce clutter in your life, only accumulate good friends, not things. Unless you really need them…as you do friends.

copyright © 2008 by Auntie Eartha. All rights reserved.

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2 comments:

  1. Would it be fair to say your house is more sterile than most hospitals?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Absolutely! You probably won't get staphylococcus in this old place. And with the wind blowing through my closed windows and sides of doors, no germ stays in the same place very long!

    ReplyDelete

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