A few months ago my little sister borrowed me a book entitled Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui by Karen Kingston. She’s loved this short little read for years. So, with the combination of her approval and feeling that our one bedroom apartment seemed to be closing in on us, I had to know what it was all about. I finished the book in a few hours and instantly had the itch to purge everything from mine and Joel’s apartment — so I did! I hauled armfulls of items I felt I could part with and loaded them into the car for donating. I felt I had won a battle over the clutter in our apartment, but now, months later it’s all crept back into our home. Although I thought some of the author’s ‘real life’ examples of clearing clutter were a little hocky, there were two points she made that really stuck with me when reading, but I’d seem to of forgotten as of lately…
No. 1
Clutter traps negative energy and holds it in your life until removed. This past week, our little apartment has been over run with stacks of paper, halloween goodies, and impulse purchases, which has lead to unnecessary bickering about the cluttered state of our home.
No. 2
By clearing your clutter you create space in your life for new things and desires to enter. I have a tendency to hold onto things that don’t serve a frequent purpose in my life for those just-in-chase moments. Or I’ll spot something on sale and think, “I like this! And it’s only… I think I’ll get it.” when I really don’t need it. I’ve been feeling burdened by the stuff in our place and can only think in circles about cleaning, organizing, cleaning, organizing… I’m learning to make thoughtful purchases and parting with my impulses. So much easier said than done!
I’d really love for our apartment to feel like those photos above and by remembering and pursing these points, it’s possible! But getting rid of the stuff is really a hard part, don’t you think? The book also talks about why we hold onto clutter, which I found really fascinating and true.
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