Letting Go

  I admire those who are neat by nature. I would not consider myself a hoarder but I can often be the queen of clutter.
   The crazy part of holding on to some things too long is that it can be depressing looking at them instead of  nostalgic.  I find it can be hard to maintain that balance of what to hold on to and what not to.
    The good part is that when I finally tidy up and get rid of excess momentous I find I never miss what I have discarded.
      I read Marie Kondo's book about tidying up. It has some good suggestions but I think that everyone has to create his/her own tidying strategies.
       With possessions less really is more. It really is more tranquil . I am not suggesting to live like a pauper but if you have too much stuff you may never be able to find ANY of your treasures because you have too much stuff.

echos of the past

lately i've been attempting to chip away at the clutter in my apartment. its time consuming and weird. when i flip through old papers and find old receipts its eerie. i spent this much on that three years ago?  scar-ry . i've gone through old greeting cards that i have saved from relatives who have passed away. its heartwarming to read them but hard to throw away . it would have been easier to have thrown them out years ago when i still had the possibility of receiving another card from them.
rifling through clutter is also frustrating. no matter how much i toss it still seems like a mess. then again its kind of like weight gain and weight  loss. it takes awhile to accumulate and just as long to get rid of.                                         all of the purging of clutter i have been doing lately has had an impact on my spending habits. the more stuff i buy the more i have to reorganize and toss later so i haven't been buying as much stuff.

scary messy

we all know the definition of neat, but what exactly constitutes too messy? how messy does one have to be to be considered scary messy?
messy is piles of papers all over but no apple cores on the floor or food anywhere outside of the fridge or kitchen cabinets unless one is eating a meal. food or goopy dirt everywhere constitutes dirty.
i am not as neat as i would like to be, but ive seen other friends' housekeeping skills and id say many have apartments that make me feel like im in my own home. i have never gotten so out of control that i would not invite a friend over.
scary messy is yet another level. its the level where one never lets anyone, not even close friends, into one's apartment. i suspect that i have a few friends or acquaintances who keep house scary messy because they will never let anyone besides themselves see the walls of their abode. heck, they know how i dont keep house. if they are still embarrassed for me to see their dwelling, well they are indeed scary messy housekeepers.
though i will never have a home as organized as martha stewart, i will say when im most at peace with the world my apartment is more organized. when im less enthused with life, my organizational skills peter out. much as i hate to admit it, this connection exists. this is why i pity the scary messy so. they are so far gone in more ways than one that their homes become scary messy. they are too weak to clean up after themselves, but have enough self respect not to invite anyone else into their mishmash.