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The Cost of Clutter
“Unnecessary
possessions are unnecessary burdens. If you have them, you
have to take care of them! There is great freedom in
simplicity of
living. It is those who have enough but
not too much who are the happiest.” ~
Peace Pilgrim
Clutter, whether
emotional or physical, is the number one
robber of simplicity. Clutter
takes up
free thought and free space in which energy could otherwise roam. Try this simple experiment
to see how clutter
affects you.
Walk into the
most cluttered area of your home.
Start a timer for ten minutes and stand in
the room. Do not
pick up anything or
begin rearranging or decluttering.
Just
stand in the clutter and absorb it, imagining you will later need to
recount as
many objects within the room as possible.
After then ten
minutes have passed, move to the least
cluttered area of your home. If
everything is cluttered, go outside.
Stand in this space for ten minutes.
Once again don’t “do anything” – just “be.” What difference did you
feel? (Note: to
read this exercise on paper will
not offer the same benefit as doing it and feeling the difference
between space
and clutter.)
When women do
this exercise with me, they often respond with:
*** ”I literally
felt like in one area I was choking and in
the other area I could breathe.”
*** “I felt
hopeless and lost amongst the piles.
There was clarity when I was outside.”
*** “I felt a
lot happier in the open space…instead of mixed
among all the things I thought I need to be happy.”
Truth be told,
it doesn’t take much to make a person
happy. Most
of happiness’s components
cannot be found in store aisles or catalog pages.
Not only do we not find happiness within the
stuff, we pay a high price for the clutter.
TAKE A STEP
FORWARD:
In your journal,
create a page with three columns labeled
ITEM, MONEY, and TIME. Go
back to your
cluttered area, pick up an item and ask: “If right this moment I could
trade
this item back for either the money I spent, the time I spent choosing
and
maintaining it, or both, would I?”
If you answer,
“no,” move onto the next item. If
the answer is yes, write down the name of
the object in the ITEM column. Next
record how much this item has cost you.
Lastly record how much time you have spent on
the item (including purchasing,
caring for, dusting, maintaining, learning how to use, thinking about,
etc.). Just
estimate – mark down whether
it’s a little, medium, or a lot of time.
Continue working through each object in this
manner.
After completing
the cluttered space or filling one page
(whichever comes first), total the columns.
This is the true cost of clutter.
This is the time and money you have given to
“stuff” that has not added
value to your life. Let
this awareness
exercise be an inspiration to think twice about buying “stuff” in the
future.
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