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I've found that the cluttered minds in my house leave cluttered belongings behind them. It makes my mind more cluttered. Sometimes you have to accept that people aren't going to change. What's making me nuts right now is that I want to decorate for Fall and since every available surface has to be covered with papers, parts to things, old mail, receipts, decorative objects not put up yet (that should be temporarily stored in the person's room), etc, I have no place to put anything nice. I can understand the corner of a snack bar as the designated catch-all for chargers, mail, odds and ends, etc, an out in the open junk drawer, if you will. I had that. But it was contained. It's like a junk drawer exploded in here. So this is what I've done:
1. I've taken it upon myself to be the kitchen cleaner. It's not cluttered, but having at least a clean common space helps. I do my best but can't get to everything. The fridge will have to be dirty, or the stove, or the floor. I do as much as I can. Some of it will have to be dirty.
2. I make my own space as neat as possible. Now, I'm bothered by dirt but not as much as clutter/extra items/parts to things. I have condensed an apartment into half a kitchen and my own bedroom. A lot of stuff that was in the bathroom, even, is in my closet. I may not make my bed every day and sometimes I have papers on my dressing table, but everything has a place. Receipts go in my wallet. Rubber bands are in the designated drawer. A shelf I bought and haven't put up yet is tucked away on the ottoman, not in anyone else's way, not even my own. Consequently I work in my room and then spend all my time in here.
3. The other common area I keep tidy is the bathroom. I also clean it because otherwise it generally won't get cleaned, unless I am so busy that the toilet gets pretty dirty and then someone might be inclined to get off their duff and do it. I am also Dish Girl and Towel Girl (I wash the household's cleaning, kitchen, and shared bathroom towels except Brother's personal ones).
So that's all I can control. The living room is full of paperwork, I mean stacks and stacks of files overflowed from the desk in the hallway. That's covered with files, too. Apparently being old is a lot of paperwork. OK, so when I'm in there I'm watching the TV so I don't care much but I don't like looking at it from the kitchen. Oh well.
The dining room I have to look at because if you are in the kitchen at my coffee center, there is a snack bar you face that overlooks the dining table (open junk drawer full of crap because no one eats there as a family anymore), then beyond, aforementioned desk (giant inbox), then beyond that the living room. So I stare at that table every day, several times a day.
That's what's triggering me.
I need to know how to not see it or walk past without it bothering me. I need to pretend it's not there because it ain't movin'. I've talked about clutter with my family. They know. They don't care. So I have to find some way to put on virtual blinders. No, I can't move my coffee center. There's no other place it will fit. Yes, it's a lot of stuff. No, I'm not giving it up. No, it being on the snack bar is a no-no. I've been told don't pile appliances up in the middle of it (even though no one EVER sits there). The mess will continue to sit there for years. I have to be the one to concede.
How do I mentally do that? It gets to me as it grows. It looks like someone dumped a small trashcan on the table.
1. I've taken it upon myself to be the kitchen cleaner. It's not cluttered, but having at least a clean common space helps. I do my best but can't get to everything. The fridge will have to be dirty, or the stove, or the floor. I do as much as I can. Some of it will have to be dirty.
2. I make my own space as neat as possible. Now, I'm bothered by dirt but not as much as clutter/extra items/parts to things. I have condensed an apartment into half a kitchen and my own bedroom. A lot of stuff that was in the bathroom, even, is in my closet. I may not make my bed every day and sometimes I have papers on my dressing table, but everything has a place. Receipts go in my wallet. Rubber bands are in the designated drawer. A shelf I bought and haven't put up yet is tucked away on the ottoman, not in anyone else's way, not even my own. Consequently I work in my room and then spend all my time in here.
3. The other common area I keep tidy is the bathroom. I also clean it because otherwise it generally won't get cleaned, unless I am so busy that the toilet gets pretty dirty and then someone might be inclined to get off their duff and do it. I am also Dish Girl and Towel Girl (I wash the household's cleaning, kitchen, and shared bathroom towels except Brother's personal ones).
So that's all I can control. The living room is full of paperwork, I mean stacks and stacks of files overflowed from the desk in the hallway. That's covered with files, too. Apparently being old is a lot of paperwork. OK, so when I'm in there I'm watching the TV so I don't care much but I don't like looking at it from the kitchen. Oh well.
The dining room I have to look at because if you are in the kitchen at my coffee center, there is a snack bar you face that overlooks the dining table (open junk drawer full of crap because no one eats there as a family anymore), then beyond, aforementioned desk (giant inbox), then beyond that the living room. So I stare at that table every day, several times a day.
That's what's triggering me.
I need to know how to not see it or walk past without it bothering me. I need to pretend it's not there because it ain't movin'. I've talked about clutter with my family. They know. They don't care. So I have to find some way to put on virtual blinders. No, I can't move my coffee center. There's no other place it will fit. Yes, it's a lot of stuff. No, I'm not giving it up. No, it being on the snack bar is a no-no. I've been told don't pile appliances up in the middle of it (even though no one EVER sits there). The mess will continue to sit there for years. I have to be the one to concede.
How do I mentally do that? It gets to me as it grows. It looks like someone dumped a small trashcan on the table.
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