Rowhouse Logic - Breathtaking Inanity

Hi, my name’s Melissa and I’m a clutterer.

Can I get an Amen?

In recent years, I’ve put a good bit of thought into downsizing my life. I don’t plan much, but I always have a bunch of ideas bouncing around my brain, waiting for the time that they become priorities and I start working on them. This downsizing project hit me a couple of years ago, but now I feel like I have the motivation and more importantly, the inclination to begin making changes.

I’ll tell you my dirty little secret, well actually I have two. I’m a pack rat and, even worse, I hate cleaning. In fact, I’ll do just about anything to avoid it. I’ve seen lots of independent films that I might not otherwise have seen had I not been searching desperately for an alternate activity. I’m pretty sure I’m not unusual. In fact, I’ve known lots of women who were very poor housekeepers. As a child, I remember going to a well-loved relative’s house, which was in a chronic state of disarray. This woman lived an incredibly interesting life. She taught weaving classes, went to auctions, collected antiques, raised chickens, tended a garden, parented three children, and somehow kept a husband, but her house looked like a bomb hit it. The mother of one of my childhood friends had clutter and random stuff strewn everywhere. She also managed to remain married and raise two children successfully. To me, it seemed like a woman could live a good life and be surrounded with happiness, even if she fell a bit short on the domestic goddess scale.

Unfortunately for me, I think things have changed. Having junk strewn about just doesn’t have the cache´ that it once did. Well, alright, maybe cache´ is the wrong word, but junk doesn’t seem to be quite so acceptable. We live in a society of consumption, people always wanting more technology, more jewelry, more gadgets, more car, and of course, more house; but still it seems like we place even more of a premium on a very well put-together home. I have a question. If I have all the shit that I’m supposed to have in this life, where the hell am I supposed to put all of it?

My ex-boyfriend contributed greatly to my clutter. He bought me new gadgets, particularly kitchen stuff, at any given opportunity. Oh well, it’s Missy’s birthday, let’s get her the nice chef’s knife from Fante’s. OK, I can’t argue with the chef’s knife, I love it and it has found a happy home in my kitchen drawer. But wait, she needs a knife sharpener for the new knife. Oh yes, and what about the two sets of measuring spoons she already has? Let’s buy her a new beautiful stainless steel set, just because. And let’s see, did I really need the little metal stovetop percolator that he brought over. The answer (say it with me people!!) was no, I already had two coffee makers that I didn’t use. I like other people to make me coffee; that’s why God invented cafes.

Look, I can’t place all the blame on others. For a while, I went to flea markets on a weekly basis, buying stuff to sell on eBay. While it held my interest, eBay was a fun hobby. Sooner or later, most hobbies lose my interest and eBay was no exception, so when I cut back on the selling, the junk started piling.

Now that the gift-bestowing boyfriend is out of the picture, I figure that I’ve hit a crossroads in my life. I can either maintain the status quo and never really feel good about my house or I can make some changes, get rid of stuff, take better care of the stuff I already have, and try to make my home a place I feel comfortable inviting people.

I went to my first Clutterer’s Anonymous meeting two weeks ago. I’m going to go back because I know it took me a life time to get here and I know change may be slow, but for the first time in a long time, I really want to make a difference in my own life.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 22nd, 2005 at 10:54 pm and is filed under Freshly-baked Cookies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.