Uncluttered--The Course

I've signed up for Joshua Becker's 12 week course Uncluttered.

I am not entirely sure why.

I've been decluttering the house, off and on, for years. I am fairly satisfied with the decisions I've made and the amount of stuff we have--on the main floors, at least. The basement is a whole 'nother beast.

I still do not have the tidying and cleaning routines I want in place to help me keep the house looking its best. I think the course deals with that, somewhat.

One of the things Becker --and other minimalists-- say is that decluttering is not the goal. Having fewer possessions is not the goal. Owning less is merely the means to something else--and it is that something else which is your "why", your reason for decluttering.

But, honestly? I think there's a good case to be made for decluttering for its own sake:

Fewer things means a house that is easier to clean and tidy.
I want a house that is easier to tidy and clean.
Apparently, getting rid of clutter would eliminate 40% of housework. (source) It stands to reason,

I want to be able to find things, easily.
That's intuitive, right? If I only have three sheets of sandpaper, say, it is easier to see whether I have that 220 grit I need --rather than trying to go through two large boxes of scraps. Right? (Of course, as my husband would argue, it reduces the likelihood that I'll actually have it, necessitating a gas guzzling and time consuming trip to the store, so....there's that.) But I certainly do not need two can openers. Or a food processor that doesn't work....

I want my mind clear. 
Princeton scientists discovered that

When your environment is cluttered, the chaos restricts your ability to focus. The clutter also limits your brain’s ability to process information. source

As Erin Doland says, clutter is like a toddler standing at your side,

repeating, “candy, candy, candy, candy, I want candy, candy, candy, candy, candy, candy, candy, candy, candy, candy …”  

Most of all, I want to unstick my life. At the moment, I just feel stuck. Nothing is happening. (Well, OK, we are doing a mini-renovation of the main bathroom, but other than that...) With Chris' lay off "sometime this summer" looming over us, so much is uncertain that I feel paralyzed.

All that other stuff-- less debt, better relationships, more time for whatever I want to do (including service to others) --that's all good. Nothing wrong with that. But this promised la-la land after decluttering may manifest--and it may not. It reminds me a lot of the promises of weight loss. And, like weight loss, there's no reason to put off having the kind of life you want because your body--or your house--isn't quite what it could be. Unless, of course, you want to run a marathon or host a wedding. Then losing the extra weight whether from the the body or the house is an excellent plan. Respectively speaking, of course.


*these photos were taken just before dear blog reader Marie came by for a too short visit. She was passing through town, on her way to visit friends.