photo credit: debs-eye

Is clutter driving you bonkers?  What small steps can you take to change your experience?

The facts of the present won’t sit still for a portrait. They are constantly vibrating, full of clutter and confusion.

— William MacNeile Dixon

No, that’s NOT my barn! Thank God. But it does epitomize my sense of clutter, clutter everywhere!

I do admit to a secret wish for my very own barn with an artist’s loft, a light-filled workroom, a retreat, a hideaway. Mine would, however, be neat, orderly and inviting.  And, yes, I’d have one room for anything I am of a mind to keep but don’t know quite yet know what to do with.  And organized space for some stacks n’ piles – ’cuz I function best with essentials “in sight”.  For me “out of sight” equals “out of mind”.  Every home should have such spaces, not too big, but accommodating.

I’m a fan of what I call “healthy clutter”, I wrote the post, Is Clutter Healthy? in which I blithely bragged:

I wholeheartedly subscribe to Thomas Edison’s advice, “To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.”  I see myself not as a packrat, but as a hoarder of my very own possibilities pile. I do love my junk – it gives me the freedom to invent my very own as yet undefined creations… I suppose that each of us has our own clutter tolerance level – and beyond that threshold, we go bonkers.

…I think the secret to healthy stress reduction is in figuring out where you will draw the razor-thin line between ‘collectable’ and ‘clutter’ … figuring out  which stuff will, in the words of Peter Walsh, “make your heart sing.”

Well now.  Four months later, my clutter has crossed that razor-thin line; it’s out of control; it’s taken on a life of its own.  I mean, even the freezer in the garage is cluttered with frost build-up and who knows what outdated leftovers!  Hence my current clutter mutterings.  I need a new heart song.  Continue reading » Clutter Mutterings…