Monday, April 16, 2012

A happy accident

Over the weekend, some of the surfaces in our house become a little cluttered. But once in a while, the clutter catches my eye, like in this instant. The colors all look like I put them together intentionally. I think I'll leave it for a bit before cleaning up the yarn and magazines... 
 
Speaking of cleaning, I had a bit of an epiphany this weekend. I've been wondering why I have been having such trouble keeping the house organized and why I always feel the need to declutter everything. And I wondered what was going on with me that I didn't seem to be able to get ahead of "the stuff."

Then I realized that this it the first time we have lived in one house for longer than three years. We have moved a lot and loved it, lived in many different places and even sometimes moved within the same town, first renting and then buying a house once we knew the area.

That meant that every three years there was a natural decluttering as we were getting ready to move and then a natural reorganizing as we put everything in its new place. Now I've got to come up with a different system. How do you stay ahead of clutter and do you have a system for organizing things? Would you mind sharing if you do?!

Tomorrow I'll share a few photos from Hunting Island State Park, where we spent the day yesterday. But for now I wish you all a great start to your week!

10 comments:

  1. ORGANIZED???
    My Lord Silke....I just bought three books on decluttering and organizing, in the hopes that ONE of them (or a combination of them! LOL!) will help!
    I did find that I hang onto things for sentimental reasons, and have spent the weekend working on cleaning the studio and planning on how to best use the space.
    I am going to have to make some hard purges; I don't want to, but it's time, and someone else will get the goodies and be happy! That is a factor that keeps me moving forward.
    I think with artists, we tend to keep a lot of things for visual stimulation, but it does hit critical mass.
    Love the colors in the photo~~see? We can put anything together and make it look good....

    XXOO~~♥
    Anne

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  2. Liebe Silke,

    die Sonne scheint. Ich hoffe, dass sie bei euch
    auch noch scheint. Sonst schicke ich einige
    Strahlen zu euch.

    Sonnige Grüße
    Elisabeth

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  3. Oh Silke, unfortunately, I'm like an old bag lady...I hold on to entirely too much, but even I have my breaking points. Usually, when I de-clutter I end up throwing most things away. I recall many years ago a friend telling me that it won't matter in a 100 years!! LOL However, I'm not thinking that much a head of time, my question to myself is, "Will I ever need it?" then think of ways that it could be used, but usually not. There have been those times when I throw or give something away and within a short length of time, I could have used it...hate when things like that mess with your head!! LOL

    So just let it go. Purging one's home is also purging ones soul...the open spaces give a warm feeling of solace. Have a great week.

    xxoo,
    Georigna

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  4. I'm a de-clutter as you go kinda gal. If I don't need it or don't know anybody who will need it right now, out it goes!...Anything that's collectible...well, that's a different story! ^_^ I put them in a certain place and label them so that I know exactly what they are, and that they're nice looking...My hubby is a clutterbug though...so I have to progressively de-clutter him too! LOL

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  5. LOL - you call that clutter! And NO Dust! But you are correct, the color combinations cry out to be remembered.

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  6. my Mother says just deal with a wall at a time, never the whole room. when she dusted, she'd just dust the furniture in front of the wall she was working on.

    it's helped me enormously.

    love
    kj

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  7. Oh Silke, how I wish I had a way of staying ahead of clutter to pass on to you. I've read the books but that just gave me a collection of them to just add to it!

    PoetessWug - I love the expression clutterbug. That's one I'll use in my blog sometime soon!

    I wonder if Anne has a point. I think maybe artistic people tend to keep things more than non-artistic ones. Thinking about my relatives that seems to be the case.

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  8. Dear Silke, you are right, moving often is the perfect way to keep your life (and household) relatively clutter-free :-)
    For me, knowing that I do not use or need many things is protection - I simply don't buy anything if I am not really sure I'll wear/use/need it.
    I just like my clean empty surfaces too much, so I never fill them with lots of things. It makes cleaning my place so much quicker, too!

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  9. Silke,,,
    Moving didn't help me at all with getting rid of clutter. I've moved 23 times in my life and I packed every single item every time. It makes for a lot of extra work and extra money to move it. Since I have my consignment space for almost 2 years now, I've been going through things and selling things I no longer need or want. It is helping.
    Now my studio! That is a story in itself. It looks a little like I'm a horder. Very hard to let go of ANYTHING (no matter how big or small) that might possibly be used in art in some way. And, I see things at tag sales that scream "Audrey, you could use that in a mixed media piece", and I give in and purchase it. So, I guess to some extent I will live with a little clutter for the rest of my life. Of course, if I would get busy and make some art I would be decluttering a little. hahaha
    Good luck. (:
    ♥ audrey

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  10. A couple of ideas from someone who lives in a very small (tiny) space (me lol)

    If you haven't used it in the last 6 months or 1 year, get rid of it.

    For every new thing you buy you must get rid of something old.

    This helps; but I still tend to collect too much stuff for my small apt., most of this stuff is art related naturally. lol.

    If you haven't worn those old clothes for X number of months/years, give them to the Good Will people.

    Just some thoughts. Have a good day. I don't comment much; but I do love your artwork.

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