Ah, yes. The clutter crisis. This is one of those things that you never really understand until you live alone or with roommates.. anywhere that's not with your parents. It is here when you may start to realize how easily piles of crap build up, (especially when you live in a top floor apartment and taking things down to the trash requires you to walk back up 4 flights of stairs. Trust me, nobody wants this).
I lived three years in the same place, and this is exactly what happened, on an individual level as well as amongst the five people (4 of whom were girls), who lived in the apartment together. Let's just say, when we finally moved out we were kicking ourselves in the ass (as well as howling at ourselves), as we sheepishly threw out the wrinkled up posters in the corner, the 500 piece puzzles, 30 lighters that don't work, a million burnt out candles, 20 almost empty cleaning products under the sinks and, my favourite, the 13 martini glasses that we lined up so cutely above the cupboard in the kitchen that had 3 years of dust piled on them.
Yes, our place had far too much junk in it and the reason for this was that we never took the time to get rid of the clutter as we were living there, we just let it pile up. I did the same thing in my bedroom in the apartment. I was living there for three years, so I was convinced that I needed ALL of my things there... This was my home now, not my parents' house. What I should have done was gone through all of my stuff and decided what I wanted and didn't want, but instead, every time I went to my parents house, I just brought bags of my stuff back to the apartment with me. Eventually I had four years of books and textbooks, about 15 binders, it seemed like a hundred notebooks, pens, highlighters and endless papers all shoved into my tiny desk. And eventually I did not have enough hangers, not enough room in my drawers, in my closet, under my bed, hanging out the window for all the clothes I had. It all ended up strewn across my room as I would dig through a pile of five year old t-shirts in search of something that I would actually wear NOW. I had too. much. shit. And this was not an easy realization, believe me.
But one day I was so frustrated at the clothes actually being spit out of my drawers onto the floor that I made the decision to go through all of my clothes and get rid of anything I hadn't worn in the past 2 years. If I haven't worn it in that time, I decided I probably wasn't going to any time soon. So I filled up two big black garbage bags and dragged them out into the living room where they sat for about a month before I took them to goodwill. (But at least my room was tidier! ; ) , hey I'm just being honest).
Once I did this, and went through my desk and simply organizedthe papers, pens, highlighters, binders and books so that they fit nicely in my tiny desk, my room was suddenly much cleaner all the time. And it made me feel cleaner too. Doing a clutter cleanse is kind of a physical way of making you feel less cluttered in general. After all, the stress of school, friends, work, family, roommates, mouldy cheese.. whatever, it gets in your head. Having your own space filled with what seems like more stress is no way to unwind and de-stress yourself.
A clutter-filled space is also NOT a motivating space. I have found myself to be much more productive in a tidy space, where everything has its place and the bed is made (so that it doesn't have the sheets pulled back in the exact way of how you got out of them, screaming at you all day "COME TO MEEE"). Your own space is the one thing that's all yours, and if you set up those good vibes, the good vibes will give back to you.
SO, GO! Clean your room. Throw out some shit. Put labels on your binders. Organize your shoes and separate your sweaters from your tank tops. CHANGE YOUR SHEETS! Make your bed! Dust. Vacuum (every once in a while). Put everything away. Light some scented candles, climb into that made bed at night and breathe in that tidy space you made for yourself.
It's refreshing, you should try it.
