Mary in LA's Journal, 06 September 2013

Awww... yeah.. I hate clutter but DH is a clutterer. And yes - I've seen all of those emotions when I've cleaned his corner of the living room when he was in the hospital.  

Bella, this clutterer says you did the right thing, even though I know your DH must have hated it at the time, as much as I did when my DH and DSister threw out some of my stuff when we moved! Hopefully he's forgiven you. I've forgiven my dear ones. It took some work, though. :) 

Like everything - we brought our childhoods into it - he grew up with the both parents in the same house. I lived with a grandmother who went thru at 20 relationships and moved us thru at least 30 houses by the time I moved out on my own at 14. Then by the time I was 18 I was a corporate road warrior for 25+ years so I spent more nights in tidy clutter free hotels than home and traveling light with my most necessary work tools and wardrobe fitting into a single carry on bag. I'm most comfortable that way. And at the core of it was my lovely great grandmother who told me at the impressionable age of six 'Bella... you'll never be a beautiful woman so the best you can do is be clean.' And my OCD was born :-) 

Mary I have some insight-I have a relative that is a hoarder, I DO understand how very, very hard it is to let go of things. Don't try to do too much at once, seriously. I know everyone wants you to have a grand clearing out and get rid of all of it at once and "you'll feel so much better". Well that implies you actually feel bad about your belongings, and they simply don't "get" how you need to take it slowly, baby steps at a time. I'm sure you've probably heard of it, but Flylady.net is a great tool for the clutter prone. I myself grew up in a cluttered home, married clutter prone men (twice! Can you believe that?) married into a family with the hoarder mentioned previously. I, myself, am not a person big on lots of "things". However, I do know how physically wrenching it can be for people to let things go because I have seen it first hand. Don't feel bad that you need longer to let go of things, but DO tackle one small thing, every day. Clutter-ers also tend to try big sweeping gestures and get overwhelmed and then use that to prove that it's impossible. It isn't, but you have to chip away at it, sneaky-like, off to the side, so you and your stuff don't really notice what's gone and don't really miss it. By small I mean one nightstand drawer, half a dresser drawer, part of a shelf on the bookshelf, a side table top...don't try to clear out the whole dresser, bookshelf, nightstand, side table, all at once. Take a few minutes a day, schedule it in, and work for just those few minutes, and then do it again the next day. It really does work. 

I get it........... I tend to hoard and clutter............. My house looks immaculate to the casual observer visiting but DON'T go upstairs!!! And by the way, good evaluation on protein - once you start evaluating food by the criteria you are using now, it is much easier to become a fat burning machine!