07 November, 2006

Rest Your Eyes, Clear The Clutter

Those of us living in the northern hemisphere tend to spend a tremendous amount of time indoors during the winter months. Therefore, in keeping with my project of coming up with ideas of how to rid yourself of the winter doldrums, how about cleaning up some of the clutter that has built up in your home or office? Not an easy or fun task, but oh is it good for the eyes and soul to look at a bookcase cleared of those books that you will never read again, or a bathroom cupboard where you can actually can see all the products sorted sparingly and orderly on the shelves.

An elderly Swedish couple I know live in an apartment totally without clutter. He was an architect and therefore everything they own or keep in their place has both design and practical meaning. If you open up their cupboards, the content literally looks like something out of a interior design magazine. Until I visited them the first time, I always presumed the homes portrayed in these magazines were artificial set up. The concept that architecture and interior design is something you live and not just something you put on paper was a new idea. Not that I managed to internalise this idea (hee)!

I continually despair over the sheer amount of Things that we’ve amassed over the years. I am not a hoarder, but just living in a four-person household (two of whom are forever growing taller and whose interests are constantly changing) means clutter forms everywhere as effortlessly as dust balls under beds. No matter what measures I’ve undertaken in the past, we couldn’t hold back the tides.

A few months ago, I asked a friend of mine to help me systematically clear out our apartment with me. This is a paying venture; I sort of hired her as my personal clutter-clearer trainer. She is a tough, goal-oriented, strict drill sergeant. We agree beforehand on a date, time duration, and location (i.e. kitchen, living room, etc.) for our next training session. And like all good trainers, she doesn’t except any lame excuses (it’s my period today), manipulative strategies (there’s a sale going on at your favourite store), or weak attempt on my part to seduce her away from the task at hand (hey, don’t you want to go and sit in a café instead). No, Iron Woman, comes punctually, ignores my moodiness and bad humour, and persistently asks me the tedious question of keep-give-away-or-throw-away.

Over the months we have gone through a few rooms and what a joy it is to relax my eyes on tables, shelves, and cupboards free of clutter. Mind you, at the present tempo, we might just have to start over again at the first room we did right after we finished the last room. For, as in life, no change, even the clearing of clutter, is permanent. Flow and ebb, flow and ebb.

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