September’s Habit :: Getting Rid of the Clutter
2012
Getting Rid of the Clutter
I have one little boy that treasures everything. While cleaning out his drawer one day I found an empty pack of gum. I asked him about it and he told me it was his very first pack of gum and couldn’t he please keep it so he’d always remember his first pack of gum? He holds on to personal mail, junk mail, stickers, drinking straws, cardboard tubes, every piece of paper he has etched his markings onto … part of this is my fault – I have always played up simple things as being treasure and told them they can turn any piece of junk into something fun with a bit of imagination. But part of his holding onto is his personality – things trigger memories, and the memories are good, and so he holds on.
I have another little boy who cares very little about things and yet in his apathy he lacks the habit of simply getting rid of the clutter and so the things, while not lovingly stashed in drawers and boxes, sit around until I toss it.
Our habit for the month of September is simply getting rid of the clutter. Oh this will be so good for us all!
Unlike most of the previous months I don’t have a day by day plan for getting rid of the clutter – instead I will be setting up bags and boxes throughout the house and involving the boys in sorting through and passing on items we no longer use or need. There will be a lot of dialogue about why we are getting rid of the clutter, whether it should be passed on to someone else or if it should be tossed in the trash.
I want getting rid of clutter to be something the boys think about, are aware of the need for, and fully participate in the decision making in regards to getting rid of their own things. I don’t want to be the one getting rid of the clutter behind their backs so they never learn how to do this themselves.
I timed this habit to be throughout the month of September so that we could be working on deep cleaning our home before the holiday busy-ness sets in. Yay for a clean, de-cluttered home! {At least that is the hope!}
To see all our previous habits that we have been focusing on this month click here.
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I love your monthly habit building. I have a dd who holds onto many little things that others would call junk. She loves all of her stuff. I have figured out that her love language is gifts which makes it doubly hard for her to get rid of anything. We are constantly trying to balance her need for keeping stuff with decluttering.
Blessings, Dwn
yes! that is Judah exactly – gifts are his love language!!
hmm… i think we will have to wait till longer after the move to work on this one. this is a good idea… hadn't noticed your habits series if there is one… i know one self help speaker said that you can change habit in 21 days so if you are always working one habit and if you have another 50 years to live. then that is 869 habits you can change from now until death
wow… i think i will be go back to my old ones by the time i get to 869…
Yes, we have done one habit each month this year. I have been working on getting them all organized onto one page for easier reference. They've been so good for us!
I have a seven year old that is very creative and turns everything into a craft or a project – gum wrappers, bottle caps, paper/fabric scraps, cast off paper – anything anyone else no longer wants. She is also the one with the straw from her first friend birthday party and her first balloon.
I have started taking pictures of her holding these things that she keeps in a special photo album. I then gave her one drawer to keep her stuff collection in. The pictures have made it a lot easier for her to part with items that no longer fit in the drawer.