This is week three of Keep or Purge :: Trash or Treasure. I thought after posting two paper items, that had questionable value, I’d step it up a notch and post something that has a lot of sentimental value, and for some people, possible monetary value.

This was my older sister’s rocking horse. It spent many years in the machine shed of my godfather’s farm, then was passed on to me when he died. My sister lives several states away and we’ve never even discussed whether she wants the rocking horse. I had it in a storage unit that I spent money on for over a year, and since I got married four years ago, it has followed us from house to house; garage, to basement, to garage.

I’m not planning on getting rid of it at this point, but I don’t exactly know what to do with it either. Do I somehow display it decoratively? Surely I don’t actually let my son ride it! It seems dangerous!!!

What would you do with it?

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Check out last week’s Keep or Purge :: Magazine Insert

For my second installment of Keep or Purge – another paper item.

Last year I ordered a subscription to Hobby Farm Home magazine to support my niece’s Girl Scout troupe. When I flip through the magazine I try not to look at those annoying advertisements to either renew or order another magazine; I just rip them right out and trash them.

But this one stuck around when the others went into the trash. It wasn’t really conscious at first, but then it became an issue. I feel that I should toss it. I don’t have a great track record with using pretty images anymore. Not since I was young and I made pretty, ever-changing wall collages.

So, what’s your opinion? Have you ever kept such a useless item as a piece of stiff paper torn out of a magazine?

Please add your votes and comments below.

 Check out last week’s Keep or Purge :: Cardboard Soap Box

For more info on these posts see the explanation here.

This first item may seem ridiculous to some of you, but believe it or not, I hesitated several times over whether to throw away this empty box. In the future I’ll be exploring the specific reasons for my difficulty throwing away an item like this. If you feel like it, leave a comment explaining your opinions about this item or items like it.

Item #1: Aubrey Organics Cardboard Soap Box

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This picture will be explained by the end of the post.

Promise One:  I will blog more often. (As in 1-7 times a week.)

I cannot count the number of times I have taken photos for this blog with the intention of posting about either my husband’s cooking or my messy house. But I’m a HUGE procrastinator which means that I rarely finish what I start. I’m also a perfectionist, so the things I DO get done take about seven times longer than they should (it took me a minute to finish that sentence because I was deciding whether it took me a hundred times longer, ten times longer, or just two or three times longer – then I chose seven because I like that number). Which for blogging means that I take about fifty photos (again, is it twenty, thirty, a hundred photos…?) for every one I post, but I think every post NEEDS a photo so I either don’t post or I take forever choosing the photos for it.

So.

I have a new blogging vow.

I will not let photos – or my perfectionism – get in the way of blogging. Sometimes I will write picture-less posts and sometimes, like right now, I will compose one-handed posts on my iPhone, while Sebastian squirms and nurses in my lap. (Also, I will post shitty photos once in a while. What the hey – because it’s better than never posting at all.)

Promise two:  I will finally, methodically, face the clutter in my house.

This is where the focusing comes in. I’ve said before that I’m what is called a Messy.  I have a major chronic disorganization problem. But I cannot keep living this way.

The whole point of this blog was to figure it out before a baby came along! MASSIVE FAIL!

I have a couple of books by experts on hoarding and they say to start with one tiny area at a time. If your couch is covered in crap, just clean one couch cushion at a time. Deal with and sort each item and don’t let anything get put back in that spot.

So that is my goal. I’m going to focus on one tiny area at a time – really focus and really figure out what the problem is, why the clutter has built up, and what to do about each item.

I’m going to start the top of my dresser. It has looked like this pretty much since we moved in last August. I am simply the queen of ignoring clutter and letting it build up. I figure posting about the process will give me the accountability I need to finish something that I start.

Maybe?

I’ll let you know how the weekend goes.

Clutter on my dresser - Never to return???

How do I even blog under these conditions?!

It is time to begin my Clutter Kick for the year of 2010. I decided on Clutter Kicking instead of Clutter Busting, because it sounds fresh and new to me, and I need that feeling to get going.

Like many others, I’ve searched for answers in the past, but haven’t yet been able to implement them in my life. For instance, the FlyLady method asks you to “shine your sink every night” and I have NEVER been able to accomplish that. Perhaps if I come a this from different angles, I’ll finally be able to do that. Also, I’ve gone onto various websites devoted to organizing and they tend to make my throat squeeze up and give me anxiety. That isn’t helpful in getting my house in order! There is something deeper within me that I need to address.

So, for the rest of 2010, I’m going to explore Clutter Kicking ideas from Flylady.net, Clutterers Anonymous, Messies Anonymous, and wherever else I find useful ideas.

Today, I’m reading and pondering the ideas found in the first two brochures from my CLA kit that I received months ago.

The first idea that CLA presents is that the “dis-ease” of excessive cluttering is threefold – physical, emotional, and spiritual. Instead of giving organizing advice, they focus on providing support for facing the underlying causes of the self-destructive behaviors of cluttering. Like in AA meetings, when you go to CLA meetings, each person introduces him or herself with the phrase,

“Hi, my name is ____________________ and I’m a clutterer.”

Here are the Three Components of Cluttering, paraphrased from CLA’s Welcome brochure:

• Physical: The behaviors that result in the stacks, piles, and objects that fill our homes, cars, and workplaces.

• Emotional: The fog we create in our heads – resentments, unfinished thoughts, emotional baggage, daydreams, worries about the future, regrets about the past. With our minds in a constant spin, we lose today because our time is spent living in yesterday and tomorrow.

• Spirtitual: The deep emptiness we feel inside – that we compulsively try to fill by clinging to useless objects, nonproductive ideas, meaningless activities, and unstatisfying relationships.

Those who join a CLA group make a Responsibility Pledge:

I pledge to stretch out my hand and heart to those seeking help from our compulsion. Together we will ensure that CLA is here for us and all those who follow in our footsteps. And for this I am responsible.

I like that! I know that when my family pulled together to help my mother this past Christmas and over the summer, I felt a deep empathy for those who are going through this without help or understanding. I am not a hoarder, but my clutter interferes with my happiness and serenety – and my ability to have people over! Whenever I make an improvement, I want to share my experience with others who might find it helpful.

So here I am! I’ll be sharing my successes and explorations in de-cluttering for the rest of 2010 and beyond.

(***Note: When this was originally posted, it had 3 comments. Unfortunately, all comments have been lost.)