Meg Evans

I’m sure it was just last year that I took inventory of the plastic water bottles in my kitchen cabinets and got rid of the ones that nobody was using anymore. Then I organized the remaining bottles in three neat rows, and they all fit on the bottom shelf of one cabinet without any problem. So how did I end up with the shelf crammed full and one too many water bottles to fit?
 

Those things always multiply. They’re given away at road races and plenty of other events. Although they seem like useful little freebies that shouldn’t take up much space, before you know it they’re all over the kitchen. Not to mention the ones my daughter forgets to bring in from her car after her workouts. Fitness is great, but water bottles spilling out of the cabinet are nothing but clutter! Once again, it’s time to look through them and pitch the old, unused ones at the back.

About Clutter Comedy: Every Sunday (which I envision as a day of rest after a productive week of de-cluttering) I post a Clutter Comedy article describing my most memorable clutter discovery of the week. Other bloggers who wish to join in are welcome—just post a link in the comments! There’s no need to publish any “before” photos of your clutter, if they are too embarrassing. The idea is simply to get motivated to clean it up, while having a bit of fun too!

I generally prefer pajamas to nightgowns, although I wore nightgowns as a child. While doing laundry a few days ago, I noticed there was one nightgown at the bottom of a stack of pajamas. Many years ago, I put it on sometimes to comfort myself if I had the flu or just felt tired and stressed. It made me feel like a little girl, well cared for, without any grown-up responsibilities to worry about.
 

You can probably tell from looking at the wrinkled cotton (not to mention the old-fashioned style) how much time has passed since then. Looking at it gives me good memories of comfort; but even so, it’s clutter and needs to find a new home.

When I started writing these weekly posts about clearing away my clutter, I expected that they would serve as a record of my small successes and would keep me motivated to do more. Another benefit I didn’t foresee was that they would help me give myself permission to let go of old items toward which I had good feelings. When I take the nightgown to the thrift store, it won’t be gone forever—it’s still right here in this post! I hope it will bring as much comfort to the woman who ends up buying it.

About Clutter Comedy: Every Sunday (which I envision as a day of rest after a productive week of de-cluttering) I post a Clutter Comedy article describing my most memorable clutter discovery of the week. Other bloggers who wish to join in are welcome—just post a link in the comments! There’s no need to publish any “before” photos of your clutter, if they are too embarrassing. The idea is simply to get motivated to clean it up, while having a bit of fun too!

For many years, my husband and I kept a waterproof cordless phone on the kitchen counter. At the time we bought the phone, it seemed like a useful gadget because we wouldn’t have to be concerned about it getting wet when we took it outside. In today’s world, there are always lots of interesting gadgets to buy. The problem, of course, is that they soon get obsolete and turn into clutter.
 

My husband unplugged it yesterday when he realized we hadn’t used it in years. Although we still have the land line to which it was connected, most people who call us now (other than telemarketers and such) would call our mobile phones instead. So it’s almost entirely useless, and we need to get rid of it. But because it sat on the counter for so long, that seemed like its normal place, and we didn’t even think about the fact that it had no use anymore. Often that’s the way with clutter; the hard part is not cleaning it up, but realizing that it is there in the first place!

About Clutter Comedy: Every Sunday (which I envision as a day of rest after a productive week of de-cluttering) I post a Clutter Comedy article describing my most memorable clutter discovery of the week. Other bloggers who wish to join in are welcome—just post a link in the comments! There’s no need to publish any “before” photos of your clutter, if they are too embarrassing. The idea is simply to get motivated to clean it up, while having a bit of fun too!

Although my daughter had planned to move at the beginning of August, she is still here because she didn’t put down a deposit promptly enough after finding an apartment she liked. They gave it to someone else, and now she has to wait for another unit in that complex to come open at the end of August. It’s a good life lesson for her, but in the meantime her clutter is still occupying my house while she procrastinates about cleaning it up.

I reminded her about a desk she used in high school, which has a drawer crammed full of junk. “There’s nothing much in the drawer—just a few pencils,” she tried to convince me. As you can see from this photo, she didn’t get too far with that argument.
 

And this is what the shelf under the drawer looks like. The boxes to the right contain ancient CDs for stuff that became obsolete long ago.
 

I’ve been patient with her because she did very well to get through a rigorous nursing program in four years while also playing soccer. Not many college athletes can manage that. But that junk in the desk is going to have a close encounter with a big black trash bag in the very near future.

About Clutter Comedy: Every Sunday (which I envision as a day of rest after a productive week of de-cluttering) I post a Clutter Comedy article describing my most memorable clutter discovery of the week. Other bloggers who wish to join in are welcome—just post a link in the comments! There’s no need to publish any “before” photos of your clutter, if they are too embarrassing. The idea is simply to get motivated to clean it up, while having a bit of fun too!