Confessions of a Clutter Bug (by Debra Smouse)

As I write this little love note to you, the windows are thrown open and the fresh spring air is wafting through the house. The hyacinths are beginning to fade, but most of the daffodils and tulips are hanging in there. I’m grateful I planted a variety of late-spring bloomers mixed in with the early-spring bloomers. After an (seemingly) extra-long winter, We’ve rinsed the deck and hauled Brutus and Goliath (our potted palms) back outside. A peek into my home would never clue you in that, at heart, I’m still a bit of a clutter bug.

There are also vases of fresh flowers throughout the house, bringing all the spring loveliness in with the breezes.

On my list this week is to wash the windows in the kitchen and deck.

But don’t let me lead you into believing that my home is perfection. Nope. Hidden here and there are little pockets of clutter.

Earlier this week, I was putting away the dishes and kind of cringed when I opened the silverware drawer. And double cringed when I opened the this-is-where-my-kitchen-gadgets-live drawer. I opened every drawer in the kitchen to see if perhaps one of them was neat and tidy to discover that, in fact, they were not. Oops.

One of the reasons I created my Clutter Busting classes a couple of years ago is because I know that even the most reformed clutter-bugs go through periods of making little (and big) messes.

My natural tendency is to toss everything not in the creative bubble somewhere out of the bubble, which usually means I find myself at the end of a launch or a completion of a project with little clutter pockets. It manifests in the kitchen with the mindless putting away of things. And in my office, it manifests in the office with piles of papers to be filed and books to be put away. I hate confessing how it manifests in other spaces from shoes on my closet floor (and under my desk) to library books to be returned in random places.

I’ve come to accept that it’s a part of who I am. I focus on a project to the nth degree and do my best to keep up the other areas of my life afloat. Sometimes, I do an amazing job at keeping all the ball in my life in the air. Sometimes, I drop a few of those balls (purposely) because, baby, you cannot sanely do everything all the time.

No, darling, there are times when tiny areas of life deserve your full time devotion.

I used to berate myself for being messy. I’d say all kinds of mean things in my head about my inability to stay organized. I’d be lost in my creative bliss, open a drawer to find the scissors, and then stress out because I’d discovered hard evidence that anyone who walked into my house would SEE that I was a horrible person because I couldn’t keep things tidy.

THEN, the old me, upon discovery of this “fact”, would rush around like a crazy person trying to hide all the evidence of my imperfection. I’d flat out exhaust myself trying to organize every drawer and clear every surface, often winding up in angry tears at my inadequacies to keep house.

Wow! That wasn’t a very nice dialogue or action plan.

So, let me share with you what this clutter bug does now.

- I have accepted that I am who I am. I was not “born organized”, so I have to have systems in place. This includes things like making the bed each morning, not going to bed with dishes in the sink, and straightening my desk at the end of the day.
- I have come to understand and accept that sometimes, my systems get out of whack. That doesn’t mean I’m failing or am a horrible person, it just means my energy is going towards something else.
- Life is messy. It’s why the good people at Method created their lovely Lavender spray.
- As soon as I realize I’m out of whack, I set a timer for 15 minutes and spend that time bringing order to ONE space. One single flat surface or one single drawer.
- When things have gotten way out of whack, I create a plan. On paper. I choose a room a day to spend time in and tackle the spaces in 10 minute intervals (no more than three of them!). I throw away or recycle as much as I can as I go. Within a week of doing this, inevitably I feel lighter.

I know it sounds simplistic, that tiny doses can bring me back to looking and feeling organized, but it works.

The purest truth I can share with you, though, is that my soul finds it’s deepest peace when my physical world is neat and orderly. Clutter in any form – the messy drawers, the piles of paper, unfolded laundry, over-scheduled calendars, relationships that aren’t fulfilling – robs your soul of that peace.

Clutter, in fact, distracts each and every one of us from creating what we are meant to create and being who we are born to be. In order to be at our very best, we not only crave order, we need it.

It doesn’t have to be that way, darling. Your clutter doesn’t mean that you aren’t worthy of being loved and accepted for who you are. Your clutter is a bi-product of a creative life. And that’s ok. I promise you, though, that if you get your clutter tamed, you will create more work from a deeper sense of peace.

It may feel daunting to even contemplate an uncluttered existence, but if I can do it, I have faith that you can, too. It’s challenging to life your best life when you are surrounded by too much stuff. It’s also overwhelming and can be challenging as to where to start.

Do you want to clear some clutter so that the habit of creating a cycle comes a bit easier?

One of the biggest lessons I have learned is that you cannot welcome new things into your life if you don’t release some of the old stuff. You need to begin to purge things from your life. Getting clear in your life by dealing with your physical clutter (big clutter and small clutter) will allow you to direct your precious energy towards creating the clear path to living your best possible life.