Clutter, memories, and the fridge collage
One of the things I’ve been personally working on lately is a War on Crap I Keep For No Good Reason. I’m kind of a packrat, and I have a particular tendency to hold on to things for sentimental reasons. I still have every wedding card we were given, for example, and tons of movie ticket stubs and random little gifts given to me by people i don’t even talk to any more.
I started reading Unclutterer after meeting its editor at a party, and while not every post is relevant to me personally, one of the themes that I found particularly useful is the idea of “honoring” your sentimental possessions without letting them become clutter.
The Fridge collage is helpful on a number of levels. Often, when I get home from work, one or the other of us is in the kitchen working on dinner. The other one will often position themselves close by for the end-of-workday chat. (Couples, you know the chat I’m talking about, the “I haven’t seen you all day” chat.) So despite the tiny kitchen, we actually spend a lot of family time there. So having a place to store mementos of our loved ones in the kitchen actually makes a lot of sense (it might be clutter for other people, but it works for us).
It also provides me a system for clearing out old mementos without feeling guilty about it. When the Wasyliks send us a new photo Christmas card, the old one can be disposed of without guilt, because it has been enjoyed for a year, and now we have one to replace it with.
Finally, it provides an outlet for the acquisition of souvenirs. (My silver charm bracelet has the same function- a place to store mementos so they do not become clutter.) When we go someplace and want to bring home a souvenir, fridge magnets are a popular choice, because our fridge is already a place where we display objects associated with memories. If you are a person who wants to bring us back something from your vacation, believe me when I tell you that postcards and magnets are fantastic ideas and not at all lame.
Another great suggestion I heard along this line, and one I try to put into practice myself, is to purchase everyday objects you’ll use anyway that are unique in some fashion to the place you’re visiting. So every time you use, I don’t know, your can opener, you can think of your trip.
So that’s what I’m working on. Getting rid of crap I thought I would use but didn’t, stuff I think I need to save because of a person but don’t, trying to keep stuff I KNOW I don’t need from getting into my house to begin with…
Now, I just need to find someone with a Kindle who will let me borrow it for a week to see if it’s any good. It’s not that I object to having shelves full of books, it’s that I’d like to be able to bring reading material into the house without causing more clutter, like I do with music.
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Wow. Unclutterer looks super-neat. I’ve just committed to further complicating my RSS habit by subscribing to it. Thanks for the link!
May 3rd, 2008 at 6:51 pm
If you do get your hands on a Kindle, please report back. My book situation is out of control and my boyfriend has recently become obsessed with Kindle possibilities. I’m just worried that the technology might not be quite there yet so I would love to hear your thoughts!!