More Stuff, Less Stuff

You see the shows on TV where a totally cluttered room gets a "makeover"; it magically transforms from a mess to amazing, with the help of a friendly professional organizer, and maybe some organizing supplies and, once in a while, a handy carpenter.

Most people I know have this problem of clutter, to one degree or another. It might be a closet, or basement, or the "junk" drawer in the kitchen, or a box of photographs stuffed under the bed, or an overflowing dining room table, or maybe "it" has taken a life of it's own and has consumed the whole house! It's rare to find someone who lives in a minimalistic, streamlined home, at least in this area of the Northeast. As I've said before in a previous post on my other blog, we simply have TOO MUCH STUFF!

Why? What do you thing causes this TOO MUCH STUFF syndrome? Is it the big discount chains and the dollar store bargins too good to pass up? The constant bombardment of TV ads, newspaper flyers, junk mail, etc.? Or endless shopping opportunities on late night television, on the Internet, through our school and church fundraisers, even our family/friends/neighbors who are trying to earn some extra cash by inviting us to parties to buy candles, plastic food storage containers or kitchen gadgets (hey, I can comment about the party plan business because I've "been there, done that"). I'm as guilty as the next person because I've signed up with not one, but THREE types of direct sales businesses already! I have all the paperwork, training materials, and "free" products to prove it too!

At this time of year, it's the start of Garage Sale/Craft Show/Flea Market season, which is ironic, because someone else is trying to get rid of their own abundance of STUFF and we end up buying it because of the great deals!

What about well-meaning friends, acquaintances and relatives who give us "thoughtful" presents year after year, that we just don't know what to do with (let alone, can't figure out what it is or what it does)? It's Graduation, Communion/Confirmation, and Wedding season now, plus Mother's Day and Father's Day... more opportunities for presents! Ya-hoo! More stuff!

What's my point? Maybe, just maybe, we can start to think about making slight changes in the way we go about living our daily lives in the next few weeks, to start streamlining the "stuff" that may be coming into our lives. Sort of like putting ourselves on a low maintanence diet to cut back on the excess "stuff" that's filling our homes.

Let's start with idea of giving presents: are you invited to any special event coming up? Can you think of creative gifts to give that would be more service-oriented or consumable, rather than taking up more space? If you happen to be the lucky one who will be receiving gifts this month for a special ocassion, could you leak out the fact that you would prefer something that's less "stuff-y" and, instead, think of ideas for gifts that you might like, which would not be adding to your clutterness factor.

Assignment:
Email me with your ideas and suggestions for no-clutter gift ideas at info@sort-things-out.com. We'll take on your "stuff", one step at a time.