sjsmith.com.au - blog

Out With The Old

Declutter your way to Freedom

I have a confession to make. My name is Sarah-Jane and I am a hoarder. Not quite a reality TV hoarder but I have some pretty impressive collections (or piles really) of all sorts of stuff. Books, magazines, craft supplies, yarn, clothes, costume jewellery, shoes, bags, even videos and DVDs (though I can't remember how to use the video or dvd player it's been so long!). I have boxes of stuff under every bed and every cupboard is chockablock! For quite some time I've been struggling to understand what my attachment is to all of this. Admittedly my family are unrepentant just-in-case hoarders. My dad still has school report cards and employment records - he's 77.  Outwardly things look reasonably neat and tidy but open any drawer or cupboard and you may have trouble closing it again.  

I have always had a sentimental attachment to things. The top my great auntie tatted before she died, old birthday cards, clothes that I wore to special events. Things have gotten slightly worse since we were burgled two and a half years ago. The thieves took nearly all my jewellery, most of it sentimental, one of the pair of jade bowls my mum had given me (but not the other one!) they broke our furniture and terrorised our little dog.  And since then I have found it increasingly hard to part with even old video tapes. I have more books than I can manage to read, I cling to magazines (and I buy a lot of them).  I do get rid of bits fairly regularly but I quickly fill up the space with something else. If any of you read last weeks blog you'll know that I had a bit of an epiphany. So from now on I want to try to free myself from the piles of stuff I don't use, or have no time for.  I'm going to give myself seven months to get clear or stop stressing.  Step one is I will photograph any keepsakes that I don't use or display and start a new memory album online so that I will still have a visual keepsake but I don't need to keep the physical item.  I will also watch the DVDs and videos by the end of June or donate them to charity and I will give all of my old magazines to the local community centre (I can keep six for art projects - but only six). My plan is that by getting rid of at least most of the clutter I'll free up space for good stuff of a different kind. Less stuff, less to clean, less to worry about, more freedom. That's worth planning for.

Till next time,

Sarah-Jane X