This past weekend, we decided enough was enough. We took the girls to my parents’ house and left them there for a weekend. (Thank you, grandparents. Grandparents are a gift from God.) We rented a dumpster. A dumpster! We nearly filled it up with trash that was inside the house. A dumpster! That’s how much stuff has accumulated in our house since we’ve had a decent time to clean out. It some ways, the cleaning out of the house was physical this weekend, but it was also metaphorical. Despite working hard this weekend, Adriene and I both commented on how relaxing the weekend was. Seems like a paradox, but it was a relief to get so much clutter out of the house. We took bags and bags of clothes to donate to charity. It’s simply unreal how much stuff we accumulated that we didn’t need. We have become very convicted about how much we waste.
Reaching back to the metaphor, I really feel that last year I accumulated so much junk and stress in my soul and I never had proper time to examine it and remove it. I’m trying to do a little bit of stepping back this year and throwing out of bad habits, bad attitudes, and laziness. It’s not nearly as relaxing as throwing out that old table that we never used that’s about to fall apart, but it is necessary. We’re letting the windows open here in the house and in my heart and letting light shine on places that have been dark for a long time.
Ah, decluttering. I love getting rid of clutter. I do a reasonable job of it at home. Work is another story – by the nature of some of the work we do, we accumulate a LOT of random stuff, and I’m the only person here that’s inclined to try to keep it organized and actually dispose of it when we’re done. Unfortunately, I usually don’t have the authority to actually get rid of stuff, just the responsibility for making sure it’s all stored and that our labs look good and that we can find stuff and have room to work and room to store more stuff… So yeah, it’s kind of a frustrating situation.
I’m also becoming more and more appalled at just how much senseless, useless waste we generate as a society. I’m not any sort of environmentalist hippie, I just like to be efficient, and it really is disgusting how much stuff is made just to be thrown away.
Amen. I need to do this myself. I can start this week at work, where it’s Scrap Electronics Recycling Week!
I applaud your efforts, Jeff, on both kinds of decluttering. I’ve considered renting a dumpster (or one of those new “bagsters” — like a dumpster, but made from a tarp and easily carried home and reusable) and doing massive work on our house, too. But, the real kind of decluttering I need is the internal kind. I keep trying to convince myself that if only the garage was neater, or if only the closet under the stairs was organized, I’d feel better about myself. Sure, maybe… but, the real work needs to be done within me.