If you’ve ever seen the show “Hoarders” you know that hoarding is the compulsive need to keep things even if those things may be broken, unneeded or excess. Hoarders have an insatiable need to attach feeling or sentimentality to objects that may seem silly to some, but it is in fact a mental disorder. If you’ve never met a hoarder you may wonder HOW DO YOU BECOME A HOARDER? Right? Well in my case it was my gypsy childhood. My dad is an honest to goodness jack of all trades, off the grid, free spirited gypsy man. My dad and his sister were moved around alot by their dad as kids. Doing what felt normal to them, as adults they both moved their kids around plenty, including myself. This kind of lifestyle must create a disruptive cycle to those involved from what I’ve witnessed. We were sometimes in one dwelling for just a few months before we would pack up and move again.
We would live in campgrounds in big army tents, we’d stay with family, we’d live in small single wide trailers, huge old farm houses. The variety of places I’ve lived is astounding. My dad worked all the time. My mom wasn’t around much. Sometimes she’d pop in for a bit, stay for a few months and then jet off again. She was our unicorn. We knew she was out there but impossible to find unless she wanted to be. We moved so much over the course of 7 years that I literally had no control over my life or my belongings. We would take only what would fit in whatever vehicle we had at the time or sometimes we’d be moved while my brother and I were in School. I have very few things from my childhood after 5 years old and only because my mom was the sentimental one. Don’t get me wrong about this story. Both of my parents are wonderful and loving people. But they both have demons and those demons take alot of beating before they give up. SO childhood was weird for my brother and I and it affected us in very different ways. Because I remember everything and retained those memories, I have a hard time letting go of things as an adult and I was emotionally jaded. I externalized my feelings. My brother was just a toddler when it all started and doesn’t remember much, he internalized. I DO NOT hoard weird stuff like cats, dogs, etc. The stuff I didn’t realize was taking me over for years were receipts, shoes, books, empty notebooks, papers upon papers, yarn and that kind of stuff. I literally had shoe boxes full of receipts for anything from burger king, gas stations, to groceries and everything in between. They would be so faded you were unable to read them and I still couldn’t get rid of them.
I was 29 before I found and read the book THE LIFE CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP by Marie Kondo. I cannot say enough about it or how it affected me. Her method of de-cluttering your life and home is based on the principles of Joy. Literally that if you hold an object of yours and it does not “SPARK JOY” then you are to remove it from your life. For the first time I could toss or sell bags of stuff that I didn’t need or want. That was HUGE for me. The book is only about $16 but every penny is worth buying it if you want to clean up your space like I do. She also has really creative folding practices that help to preserve your clothes and the things you love. GET THE BOOK! It’s amazing!
My basement is still a mess but I am working on it every day. Doing anything long lasting is a process and takes time and effort. I think it’s kind of crazy that my longing to keep things started with books and it was a book that ended up saving me. 2017 is my year of cleaning up my life. I am de-cluttering my home, my head, and my heart.
