The more you have, the more you are occupied. The less you have, the more free you are. ~ Mother Teresa
by Pete Ferguson
I’m a recovering packrat. As a child I collected everything from rocks to baseball cards, to movie tickets to coins.
I was never really good at it, because I played with everything I owned, so the value went down significantly.
Eventually I realized I wasn’t destined to be a great collector – I just had a bunch of junk not worth anything that I was holding on to for “some day” that would likely never come.
The sculptor produces the beautiful statue by chipping away such parts of the marble block as are not needed – it is a process of elimination. ~ Elbert Hubbard
What really drove the point home was when we decided to get out of debt and we had a garage sale. I pulled out just about everything from my closet, garage, and other secret stashes. I ran through my head the hundreds of dollars spent and waited patiently all morning to regain some of my expended funds. And I made $15.
That’s when I made the decision that clutter was no longer going to be a permanent part of my life. I still have to go through my drawers once a year and dump stuff. When I’m in the middle of a project at work, my desk will be a mess. But as soon as I get a chance – or I just get sick of it – I burn the bridges and chuck out everything that hasn’t had a purpose in my life in the last 60 days.
Occasionally, I will grow nostalgic, like I did for one of my favorite toys of my childhood:
That’s the beauty of eBay. Every toy I thought was really cool and played to death as a child I have been able to reacquisition (granted at a 4x price) for my kids. I’ve also been able to dump a lot of “some day” stuff for a profit.
What’s cluttering up your life and clogging the cogs of creativity?
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication ~ Leonardo da Vinci
Related articles
- The Power of Silence – Just Be (LearnActShare)
- Myths About Clutter (Gretchen Rubin)
- Simplicity (LearnActShare)
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I need to get my dad to read this article… 😀
Taylyn, first let me say thank YOU for reading. Applying it into our lives is always the trick. I know a few people who have stacks and stack of articles and books on a particular subject by have yet to take action. Thanks for reading!
I am glad to know I am not alone: I am recovering packrat too! I would attach so much meaning and sentimentality to things…but it is incredibly freeing to just let go! Decluttering our spaces – physically, mentally, spiritually, etc. – is such a powerful exercise! The more clear our spaces, the more creativity, love and prosperity are able to freely flow. Clutter, on the other hand, creates stagnancy. Thank you once again, Peter, for inspiration!
Caroline, thanks to reality television, unfortunately we know of many other people who have a clutter issue well beyond anything you or I could (hopefully) imagine. There is a lot of power in saying “no” to what we will no longer allow to clutter our lives.
Ah, yes, reality TV has made us well aware of the clutter issue! I agree there power in saying “no” to clutter in order to say “yes” to clarity and simplicity. Thank you again, Pete, and God bless!
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