Clean Up Your Act!
By: Stephanie Benney
It is sad to say that we are now in the second week of August 2011 and Summer is coming to a close. Another season will soon be just an entry on the pages in the diaries of our past and we must begin to prepare for a new season on all levels – mentally, physically and emotionally.
Time is a constant and the older and busier we get, the faster and faster it seems to pass. You go to bed a 13 year old girl one night and wake up a 35 year old woman the next morning. This point can often be driven home even harder when we start to de-clutter our surroundings. Unless you are a constant mover and continually going through your belongings, items such as “daisy-dukes”, Laura Ashley dresses and stuffed animals from old boyfriends jump out screaming, “Hello??? Umm, you’re not 17 anymore darlin….time to send me packing just like you did to that old boyfriend.”
It is amazing how much junk and clutter we can accumulate in one year, not to mention an entire lifetime. Getting into the habit of de-cluttering your surroundings twice a year is beneficial to every aspect of your well-being. We often times hold onto the past with a Vulcan death grip, which retards our clearing and future growth. This holds true for issues of the past, as well as the fluorescent, paint-splattered Chic jeans hanging in your closet.
Now, you know that I am not going to tell you to throw everything out – that is not the way to lead a sustainable lifestyle. However, you need to get back to the essentials of what you NEED to live before you can successfully live sustainably. It helps to weed everything else out, until you have reached what I like to call “The Land of Fundamentals”. This can often times be an extremely overwhelming task. It helps to have someone there with you. Turn it into a fun evening with your girlfriends complete with a musical soundtrack to your friendship and pizza! Plus, you are less likely to get stuck playing the “Should it stay or should it go” game. Just ask my Mom about her closet de-cluttering session I helped her with last summer! I found sweaters from when I was in the 9th grade(she’s going to kill me for divulging that information)!
Once you have made it “back to basics” and there are piles upon piles of clothes, decorations, furniture, accessories, books and other items from you past stacked against your walls, the real fun begins – it’s time to get creative. The “Butterfly Stage” is the perfect opportunity to look at something from different eyes. It had a life and purpose as one thing, but what can you do to it now in order to recycle and breath new life and purpose into it? That Laura Ashley dress – how about cutting it up into cute handkerchiefs for that new pup you adopted, since you were so touched by article last week. And while you’re at it, maybe a couple shabby-chic throw pillows will add some freshness to your Great-Grandmother’s old rocking chair. The scraps of the dress could be cut up and stuffed with potpourri to create a place for lavender to subtly perfume your lingerie and sock drawers.
If you are not a very creative person or simply don’t have the time to take on such projects, there are other options. Take blankets to the Alpha House; drop off your old silverware and plates to Jubilee Soup Kitchen; take your clothes in good condition to the Salvation Army; take furniture and housewares to Construction Junction.
De-cluttering is a slide-show voyage down the path of your past. Not only does it remind us of where we have been, but it helps us align and clear for our future. It brings us back to what we really need and what we do not. The next time you are shopping and you are in one of those moods to buy out the store, give yourself a little pinch to bring yourself back to the present, and ask yourself, “Do I really NEED this?”
Stephanie Benney is a “Sustainable Visionary” and also the new Pittsburgh Representative for Fuzed Marketing, where she helps companies increase their brand presence. stephaniebenney@yahoo.com