Friday 31 January 2020

Thinking About Things

'House of Knowledge' (2008)
by Jaume Plensa, Spain
Textile Fashion Center
Borås, Sweden


It's been one of those weeks when I've been thinking a lot, but haven't got round to much writing. 

Instead (while thinking), I have been sorting through my kitchen cabinets and drawers, and putting in some new lining paper where needed.

I think what got me started was GB's post last weekend about One Hundred Things. So far, all that I've actually weeded out is three odd spoons, one cheese slicer with a weird handle, and one cream jug. (I still have two more drawers to sort through, though.)

The room I should really be getting on with is probably my study. It just felt easier to start with the kitchen!

On the whole, I think I regard decluttering as a continually ongoing process rather than a "once and for all" kind of job, though.
 

12 comments:

  1. For me, it truly is ongoing!! Nothing ever seems to stay neat like I arrange it. But it calms me down to organize. I quite like it.

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    1. Ginny, sometimes I suspect "things" enjoy disarranging themselves behind our backs! (lol) I agree that organizing can sometimes be sort of calming (if not too big a job!) I guess when we manage it, it makes us feel in control - at least for a while...

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  2. For at least the last 15 years now, I have made a conscious effort not to amass so many things. Several times, I have politely declined offers of friends and relatives who wanted to buy me something. When asked what I want for birthdays and Christmas, I usually answer that I most appreciate something I can eat, drink or put on my skin - or a voucher for my local spa and similar gifts. There is the occasional book I want to have (and own, not just read), and I rarely resist a beautiful dress, but other than that I rahter make do with the stuff I have.

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    1. Meike, after having had to deal with my parents' house full of "stuff" some years ago, I'm trying hard not to fall into the hoarding trap myself... (the addition of some inherited things with memories attached not exactly making that easier, though!)

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  3. just read Ginny's comment about organizing calming her down and I got agitated just reading that. I do go through and get rid of but I don't like to... I will go read the other post about 100 things. I always start with the job I don't mind doing first, as in the kitchen drawers. for some reason I leave the worst hated job to last. I LOVE that art piece, it is fascinating, I stared at it a long time and like that is is made with words. I find that when I am cleaning or organizing my mind works better, it thinks better.. I can't sit down and just think.

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    1. Sandra, your comment gave me an "aha" moment... One reason why I find it easier to sort out the kitchen than the study is that in the kitchen it's just "things", and that sort of cleaning and organizing I can do while thinking about other things - and listening to the radio or whatever. Sorting through papers and photos and books is a different kind of job, demanding much more attention and decisions. Which is why I keep putting if off...

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  4. I've been going through all my old cards and letters with the aim of getting rid of lots of 'stuff'. What has really happened though is that I've been reading it and started organising it instead. It doesn't make sense but it makes me realise the connections of the written word. Lots of old Christmas cards are going if they don't have long personal notes inside. On the subject of the kitchen mine was gutted this summer and lots of things were thrown out or given to a charity shop. However there is still one drawer which I used as a repository for anything which didn't have a home. If the sun wasn't shining and the garden beckoning I might have sorted that this afternoon........might have😂

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    1. Graham, I completely agree that letters and cards and photos and other personal stuff are the hardest to sort through (and decide whether to let go or not). Getting them organised is a good start, though - and sometimes perhaps one has to settle for that. For my own part I have often found it to be a gradual process. I did get rid of quite a lot of old letters (and cards) when I moved 12 years ago (deciding to keep only as many as would fit into a certain number of boxes and binders). I'm still keeping pretty much to that "system" - i.e. when I run out of storage space, something has to go. Sometimes I've made compromises, like keeping some letters from someone, but not all. Last year I went through that process with the letters of a one dear friend with whom I exchanged hundreds of letters and cards through forty years or so. I finally realized that I'll never get round to rereading every one of them anyway. So six or seven archive boxes were reduced to one shoe box full of mostly postcards but also some randomly chosen longer letters.

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  5. Decluttering is good, I went through clothes in my wardrobe last week and got rids of a boxful of stuff while wondering why I bought the things in the first place.

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  6. Amy, yes, it has to be done every once in a while... ;) I usually go through my wardrobes in spring and autumn as I shift some of my most "seasonal" clothes between the wardrobes in my flat vs storage in the basement for the summer vs winter. (Not needing my winter coats in summer, nor summer dresses in winter...)

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  7. I refuse to throw away my memories and memorabilia, just because some emty-headed wanna-be says so. I have things that are important to me. They represent my life. If you no longer need something, then discard it willingly. But not because someone else instructs you to throw away your memories.

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    1. If you don't feel you have too much stuff, of course there is no problem. For myself, I do find it useful to go through my shelves and drawers etc every now and then. I tend to go more by what storage space I have (and knowing what I have where), than an exact number of things, though!

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