uncluttering one day and one thing at a time

 
Clutter has such a profound impact on my/our lives - from the visual clutter that comes from all the surfaces being piled; which has been linked with anxiety/depression; to personal finances (remember that cheque I found, or when we buy duplicates because we can't find the one we already own, or when we pay for storage spaces) - clutter affects us; and for me at least, I want to live in a less cluttered house because I want a better life.

But our clutter has a deeper impact; a global one. My jaunt to get rid of my "free" e-waste reminded me of the likely home of my old computers. I first watched Ed Burtynsky's film Manufactured Landscapes on an airplane - flying to Winnipeg, probably. And from the astonish opening shot (no, really - mind-blowing) - the film transformed my understanding of the global systems of manufacture. The doc focuses on China; on how the very landscapes are transformed by processes of manufacturing - from extraction of resources to power generation; assembly lines to the fate of huge ocean freighters used in transport.

Burtynsky is a large format photographer, and the film capture quite a bit of his way of seeing as they follow him from site to site.

So - not a film about clutter per se; but certainly our consumption and subsequent difficulties about letting go are all part of the same systems that are manufacturing landscapes around the world.

( Manufactured Landscapes )

(I think DW is having some video embed problems, but there is a link)

OUT: 47 children's books 

I had another go at the children's shelves tonight. I still let myself hold onto anything I remembered as one of the kids' favorites, or mine, or books that just are so good. (Of course, we have a lot of children's books that fall into the category of so good. It's not like I made a habit of buying crappy kids books.) Letting go of books seems to be a constant and gradual process. 

Putting away the gift bag of shampoo etc last night, I rummaged through the bathroom baskets o'stuff until I found a corresponding number of things to throw away.

OUT: 
a cheap bottle of nail polish belonging to the teenager (who isn't living here fulltime anymore)
a half full moisturizer that I've had longer than this house
an almost full container of powder that I bought for my weddding and have kept for twice as long as the husband
an unopened bottle of red manic panic hair dye that no one is going to use
and from my bedroom - some lingerie/restraints left by my ex-girlfriend (almost 2 years ago)

I tackled my writing desk this afternoon - threw out quite a bit of miscellaneous paper that had accumulated on it; tidied up the stationery.

Also OUT: 30 children's books!

IN: 2 novels, video game, dvd, 2 cds 

Both Saturday and Sunday nights I went up to bed and realized I hadn't done any decluttering. So Saturday I took a few minutes to throw out some papers (kids' art, receipts, misc whatever) from my dresser top. Sunday I ditched about four pieces of costume jewellry; and an entire box of costume jewelry I'd saved from my daughter's big room cleaning a few weeks ago. I didn't open the box, just threw it away sight unseen.

Voices I had to stifle

So. How is everyone?

Like a lot of previous years, I had a ton of energy for tackling my clutter at the beginning of the year; and have lost steam. I'm more aware of the ways that March itself disrupts things for me; there's family birthdays and a school break for the kids, and work becomes horribly busy. Today is my first day off in at least two weeks. (As long as we don't count the 15 minute work phone call. And the emails. So... not quite a day off.) 

As March wound down, I thought about what would help me reboot my decluttering. I've decided to set some specific goals for the next few months, and then set goals for the summer.

So. My general idea is to tacke specific areas for the next while. For April I'm going to concentrate on my bedroom, because oh my goodness, it needs it, and some things disappear into the closet of doom and never see the light of day again. (You may remember my bedroom from uncluttering comms in the past, and such items as Giant Box Of Never Unpacked Whatever That's Been Sitting In A Corner For Three Years)

Anyone else working on specific goals? Running out of steam? Need some encouragement?

Today I was reminded that I don't need an hour for decluttering; I've got enough disastrous corners in the house, all I need to do is spend 5 minutes in one of them, and I'm sure to find things to throw/give away.

IN: one vest

OUT:  seven pieces of clothing, mostly from the corner of my closet including a long abandoned half-knit sweater.

FOUND: two pairs of cords that fit!
 

IN: a tote bag. I know. It's a sickness

OUT: 3 bags (insulated lunch bag, canvas tote bag and vintage purse) and a pair of skates 

ORGANIZED SLIGHTLY: all the other bags, OMG

SORTED - the pile of mail on the kitchen table

TOSSED - all the envelopes and mailing enclosures

PAID - all the bills

OUT - 2 boxes of recycling, 3 big bags of garbage to the curb

eta

PUT AWAY - my laundry!

SORTED TO GIVE AWAY/OR THROWN OUT - 12 items of clothing 

IN
a teenager, her assorted stuff and her new betta fish
dog toy

OUT
18 assorted bottles from the bathroom

METHOD TO MY MADNESS
  I checked expiry dates on things like sunscreen, hunted for empty/mostly empty bottles and tossed anything I couldn't remember acquiring recently