How The Clutter Becomes The Burden

By not dealing with your clutter in manageable pieces you are allowing the clutter to grow, and that’s when the clutter becomes the burden.  

Clutter is basically unmade decisions.  It usually consists of items that you simply don’t know what to do with, and rather than figuring it out, you just let it sit around somewhere waiting for you to deal with it.  It will usually sit in some inconvenient place that’s in your way.  Someplace that makes you have to move it back and forth in order to use the space it’s taking up.  That clutter attracts more clutter.  When you have a spot where you just put stuff you don’t know what to do with, it eventually becomes the clutter spot, and it will keep growing until you decide it’s a good time to deal with it.  But does that good time ever come?  The answer to that is likely NO.

I get it!  This is not an activity that brings you joy. There are other things you would rather do.  Scrolling your phone, maybe?  It’s ok.  I’m not here to judge.  But it’s just the fact that you would rather do ANYTHING over decluttering.  So you fool yourself into thinking you are dealing with it by filling bins or boxes with all the stuff, then putting the bins in closets, or the attic, or the basement or the garage, or worse yet…ALL of the above.

Then one day you realize you can no longer function in your own home, a space that is supposed to be your sanctuary.  A place where you should be able to relax.  But when clutter has taken over, you can’t relax, and your brain is always on high, preventing you from focusing on any one task.  Now the clutter is a burden.  

What you may not be thinking about is the fact that this isn’t just your own burden.  This has now become the burden of your family.  Eventually you are going to reach a point where you can no longer physically take care of your home or the stuff that’s in it, and that’s when your stuff becomes the burden of your family.  When the stuff becomes a burden, it no longer holds any meaning.  You may not even recall what’s stuffed in that closet, or in that attic or basement.  How can those items hold any sort of value if you don’t even know what they are.  If your children or other family members have to take care of your stuff they are mostly likely going to throw it all in a dumpster, or send it all to the donation center without even looking at it.  Is that how you want any of your belongings to be handled or remembered?

Handle the clutter while it’s still manageable before it becomes a burden.