I have been battling with clutter for at least thirty-five years. I don’t fall into the hoarder status, I’m just very messy and I love the thrill of a bargain.
In the 1990s, I used to yearn for simplicity (even though I knew full well that I was the one responsible for the complications in my life) I read mountains of books on the “Voluntary Simplicity” movement popularized by Duane Elgin and Janet Luhrs. I loved to lie on my cluttered bed reading these books as if I was reading about an Antarctic polar expedition or a trip to outer space.
I dreamed of a magic formula that would help me to take concrete action toward getting control over my mess. Was it the perfect storage system? Did I need a bigger house? My perfect storage systems were fun to shop for but always ended up as more clutter. The bigger house thing was something I got to try out. We rented a mansion for a pittance in return for caring for the house. We just ended up with a lot more mess.- In fact we had a ball room full of stuff that other people unloaded on us because we had so much space.
What I needed was a coach who could hang out with me and give me permission to throw things out. I did have a close friend help me a few times but she was so ruthless, I ended up curled in a fetal ball when she left.
Later in my much smaller home, I listened to audio tracks while I would work. Some audio versions of clutter books had me laughing more than decluttering. I turned off anything that asked me to take a complicated quiz to see what category of clutterer I was. Many of the tracks were too “nuts and bolts” to fit into my style. I found that the most helpful were:
Brooks Palmer’s audiobook, Clutter Busting was soothing and spiritual. With Brook’s support, I felt that I could throw out anything and still be OK.
Louise Hay 101 Power Thoughts. This is so soothing that my inner intuition works at full throttle while listening to her.
Denise Linn’s Secrets of Space Clearing and Energy Strands
Space clearing is not just about putting things away or throwing things out. Space clearing is also emotional and spiritual. I decided to make my own short action track to see if I could get closer to what I needed.
The following short track has been years in the making.
I have been doing audio narration for a free public domain site, Librivox, and learning audio software so that one day I could make very my own decluttering playmate.
In the end, I had to ditch my equipment in favor of my I Pad’s Garageband. It’s not as smooth as I would like but I think it will do the trick. The meditation app, Insight Timer just accepted the track and all proceeds will go to charity. I hope to help one fellow clutter-er at a time.
Laura Stinchcomb 