Photo: LollyKnit/Creative Commons
You wouldn?t expect me to hoard. About two years ago, I sold everything that wouldn?t fit into a 24-foot RV, including my extensive shoe collection. As recently as August, I was able to fit all of my family?s worldly possessions into a 4x8 U-haul trailer. And yet, the moment I moved into a three-bedroom duplex, I began accumulating new things like a woman with junk rooms to spare.
Actually, it wasn?t new things that I was drawn to. In my effort to lessen my impact on the environment, I decided to focus my consumption on used items. I was saving the world by shopping at Goodwill instead of Target! I was protecting the landfill by stalking garage sales!
My drawers began to bulge and my closets seemed to protest my activism with their disorganization.
On top of my second-hand obsession, I began collecting various craft supplies in anticipation of the day I would make my Pinterest boards a reality. Of course, a conservation-conscious citizen like me doesn?t purchase new craft supplies; I saved already used items that could be upcycled into furniture, art and other cool stuff. Glass jars were just the beginning. A pile of magazines, cereal boxes, shampoo bottles, toilet paper rolls and empty prescription bottles grew in the corner of my living room. I stopped throwing away anything with artistic potential, and I saw potential in just about anything.
By the end of December, just four months after we?d moved into our home, it was clear my creativity and conservationism was bordering on everyday hoarding. I resolved to spend the New Year?s weekend getting organized as a first step towards my goal of creating a sense of home in 2013.
It was obvious that I needed to do more than organize. I needed to purge. I had more empty bottles than empty shelf space and enough supplies for five years worth of projects. Some fast math revealed that my household was consuming (and I was keeping) trash much more quickly than I was able to transform it into something cool. In the process, I was turning living spaces into storage areas that made me anxious to look at.
The only thing to do was get rid of the excess. If I didn?t have room for it, or if I had a ridiculous amount of multiples, I had to get it out of the house. I recycled what I could, filled a bag bound for the thrift store, and guiltily tossed a few items into the trash. I felt a bit like an environmental failure, but delaying the inevitable was just forcing my family to live between piles of clutter and reducing the chances that I?d actually follow through on any of my upcycling projects.
My next step is to reduce what we bring into our home. I?m reminding myself and my husband that free and used doesn?t automatically equate to necessary or a good deal. I?m trying to focus on the here and now ? or at least the near future ? when I bring things home or save them from the recycle bin. Do I have immediate plans to use this item? If my main motivation is to plan for ?just in case?, I?m not holding on to it. Well, except for that one pallet I have stored under the stairs.
But? there are so many things you can do with pallets!
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Source: http://parentables.howstuffworks.com/take-charge/how-i-reigned-my-craft-supply-hoarding.html
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