Plié Through the Piles

When I was small I desperately wanted to be a ballerina, but there was no ball of ‘i-n-a’ in this girl’s DNA. (If I’d taken ballet lessons, I probably would have had the same excruciating expression as our little friend here 🙂 ) The closest I came to being a twinkle-toes was marching on my high school’s drill team. I loved it.

In the midst of a rescue intervention of our household goods from water damage due to a busted connection beneath a bathroom sink, guess what I discovered?

You guessed it. My swanky white go-go boots with the red yarn tassels and the red velour body suit with the short white overskirt that comprised my Ike Hi-Stepper drill team uniform. (Yes, kids, it did fit once upon a time). Ah, the memories!

However, four decades and several hundred (or thousand) items of goods later, my warm memories devolved into two more pieces of ‘stuff’ that I would have to handle and decide what to do with. The watering of our indoor yard had ensured that all that ‘stuff’ was going to let me know it was still there waiting for me (and my husband, who helped accumulate 39 years of it; we’re into sharing the wealth).

Forced into making my acquaintance again with all the stuff of 24 years in one house, things became evident. If I couldn’t flutter through the clutter, there was no way out but to plié through the piles.

A plié is when a dancer is basically bending at the knees.

All those piles take a lot of bending at the knees. Make friends with ibuprofen. Since I’m into sharing the wealth, here are some pointers that helped as I was contemplating the clutter:

Envision – You know the old saying it gets worse before it gets better? It applies here. So I suggest you start with a vision of clean, clear, and orderly in your mind’s eye. If Calgon can’t take you away because the bathtub is full of all the under-the-sink stuff rescued from the flood zone, you will need a motivating place to escape to.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then tape one up that captures the essence of what you hope to achieve by the time you’re done de-cluttering.

Bear that picture in mind because it won’t be long before you feel more like this next Natalia. The coach in me realized it helped to heed my own coaching advice.

Take a Break – After you get started! But during, for sure. In our case, every single room in the house was engaged in the shenanigans. Here’s some trivia: Do you know it takes about ten minutes to completely upend a bathroom and family room? And about ten weeks to put the house back together? You are going to have to pace your pliés or the piles will win.

Divide and Subtract – When my dearly beloved and I got married, we received as wedding gifts three crock pots, three toasters, and three bathroom scales. (I guess they wanted me to keep fitting in that drill team uniform…) We were smart back then and selected the ONE that we wanted to keep and returned the other two of everything. We then used the refunded cash to purchase something we needed and didn’t yet have.

Somewhere along the line our math changed and we became excellent at multiplying. Adding three children to our four walls helped increase the bulge and the bottom line. How many of something (outside of children) do you need? Labeling helps:

– Recycle bin (if it fits the recycling criteria, do a high five on the lid of that blue bin as you toss it in)

– Giveaways (know somebody who loves something you know would love receiving that something?)

– Garbage (you’d be surprised how much stuff is simply useless and beyond salvaging; toss it out)

– Goodwill or another local thrift shop / agency that accepts donations of useable and gently used items

Note those three Gs? If nothing else, contribute to those three and you’ll have dealt with a high percentage of your stuff.

– Craigslist for larger, in good condition furnishings, etc. that may fetch an equitable price

– Have a Yard Sale if you’re a brave soul with time and ambition on your hands. If not, see the above list. Or, donate it to a church or other organization’s youth group raising funds for camps and more.

– Keepers – Two categories come to mind: the stuff you still use but need to store, and the stuff that you deem memento-worthy of being stored. My friend told me a trick – when you’re down to the collectibles and ‘your stuff’ (which is more special than plain ol’ accumulated ‘stuff’), carry the item out of the room it resides in, keep going and carry it outside the house (ie. to the garage), then come back in the house. If it is calling your name, you probably don’t want to part with it. If you don’t give it another thought or heave a sigh of relief, it needs to go. If you’re unsure, put it in a box marked with the date. One year later if you haven’t used or thought about it – hasta la vista, baby.

Get Some Help – This may seem like a no-brainer, but you might be surprised at what your brain will tell you is possible by yourself. Save yourself from ending up in traction and line up some extra hands and a back or two. It’s a much smaller price to pay with the heavy stuff.

Rental equipment helps too. You don’t have to own it to get the job done. And it’s one more piece you can keep from adding to the clutter. Although I did buy a 3-step ladder since my hubby and I haven’t quite nailed this lift.

Practice those Pliés – The best part about doing a de-clutter (forced or determinedly planned) is that once the many layers have been dealt with and you’re down to livable, breathable space again – you can practice those pliés with less effort. When there’s a place for everything and everything in its place, new habits can be entertained and enjoyed. There is only so much one really needs. The rest is just ‘stuff.’

~ Nancy

Clutter Challenge: Pick a room, select five things to discard,
and leave a victory note back here in the comments.
We love it when others share the wealth too 🙂

photo credit: AmaBW001 via photopin (license) – draped
photo credit: ballering2 via photopin (license) – too many
photo credit: IMG_2933 via photopin (license) – couple
photo credit: second position via photopin (license) – girl II position
photo credit: ballet via photopin (license) – green dress