As seen in the Dayton Daily News on June 16, 2018.
Our homes are not warehouses, museums or storage units. Take a moment to walk around your home. Does it resemble any of these? If so, let’s explore each of these scenarios and see if you can make changes so your home feels like a home again.
Your home is not a warehouse. I have been in many homes where families have a membership to big box warehouse type stores. People generally purchase from these stores because they want to save money by buying in bulk. They may also be buying in quantity so they don’t have to shop so often.
While working in clients’ kitchens, I often find a lot of spoiled foods because clients couldn’t use up the food they purchased before it expired. Instead of saving money, they often waste money buying in bulk.
Time is being wasted because they purchase more than they need. Picture a pantry crammed full with food items, sandwich baggies and paper products. Much of the food is hidden from view so they spend time looking through various food products before finding what they need. Looking for things is stressful.
Over-buying means baggies and paper products are often haphazardly thrown in various areas of the pantry so multiple packs of the same products get opened. Overtime, dust ends up in the opened packages or they fall to the floor and become unsanitary.
You continue to buy more items because you can’t find what you already own. The vicious cycle of buying and throwing things away continues.
I read a research study from Cornell University. They concluded that buying in bulk can cause you to eat in bulk. If losing weight is a goal of yours, stay away from the mega size containers and multiple packs of food products.
Your kitchen doesn’t have to be a mini warehouse. Buy less so you can enjoy all the benefits of an organized kitchen.
Your home is not a museum. Is your plan to create a giant shrine of your life in your home? If not, why are you saving so much memorabilia? Many of you have boxes and boxes of your history and archives taking up space in your home, even though you never look at it. Your past is important, but do you need so much of it cluttering up your home? If you’re feeling overwhelmed, start letting go of some of your past in order to live more happily now.
Ponder this, if you were to pass away today what would your loved ones do with most of your stuff? If your answer is, “They would throw it away,” do your loved ones a favor and start parting with stuff today. Your loved ones don’t need all that stuff to remember you anyway.
Your house is not a storage unit. You buy storage boxes and cram stuff into them. You then buy shelving units to put these boxes on. Before you know it, you have rooms full of organized clutter looming over you. Is this the best way to spend your time or money?
Your house is full, but you feel empty and overwhelmed. Let go of your excess belongings so you can walk in the door and experience what living in a home feels like.