Make Room in Your Life - From Clutter Overwhelm to Clarity

 

Do you ever feel like abundance comes into your life and brings you joy but later rears its ugly side? It happens in nature too - the crops ripen in the field, but left unused they rot and (eventually) return to the soil. We are in the midst of this energy right now, as we move through late autumn. This is, indeed, what clutter is to us.

 

My inspiration tonight comes from making sense of the tangle of kids' clothes. Due to doting and sales-savvy relatives, the kids' drawers are bulging and we were overdue for doing something about it. The straw broke tonight finally (thus my gritty pictures - sorry).

 As I got started in sorting the clothes by type, I could feel the sense of overwhelm sweeping over me. "How in the world could anyone decide what to wear with this many choices?" And then it hit me - no wonder we've been having issues with Bean pulling all the clothes out of her drawers and with the getting dressed routine taking so long. If I'm feeling this way as an adult, how must she feel as a preschooler?

 

This brought an amazing sense of clarity to the task before me: I would edit her clothes collection to things she loved that would be sure to make her successful in getting dressed each day.

 

Here are some ideas to think about (these are geared toward kids, but could work for adults too):

1. Outfits. She usually wears the same kinds of pieces each day - pants/leggings, shirt, sweater/fleece - which was a simplification itself. She has a few dresses for special occasions, but I decided to set aside all the skirts (which she could wear with leggings) for later.
2. Split seasons. Since there were quite a few cold weather items, I divided it into "winter", which she'll use now, and "late winter/early spring". This will allow for her to have some newer things available if she wears through anything (preschoolers can be hard on clothes).
3. Limit the number of items. Since she's a preschooler, she does go through laundry quickly, but we also do laundry often. So having around 7 items in each category seemed like a good place to start. I reminded myself that this was the best way to make getting dressed feel manageable and efficient.
4. Easy color matching. Mixing and matching the clothes is important, because I feel strongly that Bean should be the one who drives selecting the clothes for the day (we each intuitively know the clothes we need to help us feel good each day - I want her to learn that). I've also noticed that she is picking up more and more on the subtleties of color - bright, muted, etc. However, to have a smaller set of clothes work, I aimed to have each item go with at least 80% of the other items.
5. Commit to a size. This is a challenge for growing kids, but you need to draw boundaries to create reasonable limits. I decided on one size only, putting the other items in boxes to store elsewhere for now. I can always get to the other sizes if need be.

 

This may seem obvious, but if you take on such a task, don't forgot to inventory whatever clothes are currently in the dirty clothes hamper too!



 



 

Kids clothes sorted into boxes by size and season

I ended up with a box of clothes for early spring, several boxes of outgrown clothes, a box of clothes for the next size up, and ONE laundry basket of clothes that she is currently wearing.

Kids clothes in use now - all for one preschooler fits in ONE clothes basket!


I am loving this idea that the time we use daily to make decisions is something that we can protect and we can support ourselves when we discern the useful from the clutter in our lives. It explains the agitation I feel around some of my clutter piles, and the helplessness I feel when something arises which requires me to sift through find something for a task at hand.

Clearing clutter means being discerning about my purpose in life - equipping myself for the life I want to live, and letting go of everything else standing in my way. Amen!