Day 243: Is Clutter Married to Frugality?

Do you have to have clutter to be frugal? One of the tenants of frugality is saving items you might use later on to "make do" when creating a child's costume, a jean purse, etc. I would say that you do need to keep some items on hand, but have a specific place for them. If the bin or storage place begins to overflow, sort through your items. On the other hand, if you have stashed things "I might need later" for more than five years, there is a good possibility that you could get rid of those treasures.

Day 242: Does Everything Fit?

Periodically, we need to evaluate our homes, garages, sheds, etc. with the question, "Does everything fit?" If the answer is no, some items need to be rearranged or disposed of. Look in the desk drawer: is everything in a certain place? In the family room, can the room fit more people than the stuff that is taking up floor space? Kitchen cabinets: are there multiples of spices/boxed items you could simplify? Could you store some extras in an under-the-bed container to free up space?

Think about your home and if everything fits.

Day 241: Clothing (again)

It may be time to revisit a clothing closet or storage bin. As a new season dawns, you might get rid of some summer garments you rarely used for whatever reason. I have a couple of skirts I haven't used all summer and they have served their time.

Day 239: Expired

We have discussed this before, but have you checked your medicine cabinet recently? I am visiting with my sister-in-law who often travels from the West Coast to the East to visit. She keeps a stash of toiletries at her mother's so she doesn't have to bring so much. This morning she found several over-the-counter medications that had expired, so she threw them out for her "simplify: one per day" commitment.

On that topic, I saw an article about prescription medication expiring. When a doctor is trying to find the right medication, you may have to purchase multiple bottles before the right one is found. This person said that the drug store will sell a few pills intead of a whole bottle if you aren't sure; that way you don't waste the money or have to store/throw out medication you'll never use.

Day 238: Minimalist

I realize I'm in the "send them off to college" mode lately, but that has been my life. I will get past this, but the experiences of sending two off this year has given me room for thought about simplifying.

A friend of mine recently sent her son off to college. She said she had to force him to get another pair of jeans because he is such a minimalist. She sneaked a box of tissues into his stuff, but he wasn't happy to see she'd packed snacks and so she had to take them home.

I lived on the island of Haiti for a summer for a missions project. We were allowed one duffle bag and it could only weigh a certain amount. We had three pair of pants, two dresses, work boots, underclothes, three shirts, any lightweight toiletries, a Bible, a basin to hand wash our few clothes, and that was it for the entire summer. The leaders were not being mean, we just had to carry all our tools and food to the island and weight on the plane was an issue. The planners also knew we'd be busy working and wouldn't need lots of stuff. You know, it really wasn't a hardship having so little. It was actually freeing. And, when you saw the conditions the Haitians lived in, you realized how blessed you were to have clothing that wasn't covered in rips and holes like some of the Haitian children.

Think about if you need to be more of a minimalist by getting rid of excess.

Day 237: Hiding Places

In theory, having lots of small drawers, shoe racks, hanging closet organizers, organizing bins, etc. are good things. However, with a busy lifestyle, they are also catch-alls for junk we don't need to keep. Someone I know has seven small drawers in addition to her dresser drawers in the bedroom. In her closet was a tubular hanging organizer. Well, when this person got ready for college and cleaned out drawers, bag after bag of trash was collected from those.

Sometimes I think it's better to not have so many hiding places. If clutter is in plain sight, we tend to notice it and purge.

Day 236: Triggers

A trigger is something that can jumpstart our memories. It can be a photo, an object, an odor, etc. Much of the clutter we have trouble parting with could be categorized as "triggers." We don't want to get rid of this mug because it reminds us of Great Aunt Sue. We can't let the old rag blanket go because it was our child's blankie. Thinking logically, we really don't like those objects, they don't enhance our lives....we keep them to preserve the memory.

There is something freeing about forgetting, but we fight so hard to remember everything. We surround ourselves with lots of clutter to remember. When you think historically, you realize they had diaries or journals, maybe, to pass on. Perhaps a few objects such as furniture. No photos, a few had paintings, no nicknacks. In school, they memorized so much in their heads, their memories were sharper than ours today where we can just access information any time and have not much need for memorizing.

Back to triggers. Is it really so bad to risk forgetting whatever that object represents to you? Can you trust your amazing brain to recall the important stuff? As you sort clutter, think about whether what you are keeping is just a trigger to help you remember and whether it's really necessary in your life.