Surfaces

My friend wrote recently that she had devoted her day to cleaning off the surfaces of her house. All of us clutter freaks know exactly what that means and envy the task that she has completed. Of course she confesses and even shows a picture of the laundry basket full of the stuff she pulled off the surfaces that she dejunked. These items are still awaiting relocation. I personally, have at least 2 laundry baskets of these types of items.

I guess my thoughts turned to the surfaces of our lives that we either clutter with unnecessary stuff, or declutter and think we're good. But do we just shove that clutter into a laundry basket and let it sit somewhere awaiting the attention that it deserves? Is it really clutter, or is it the stuff that matters most? By decluttering our lives, do we actually suck the life out of life? I guess I'm always afraid that if I throw something out that I will need it later. It's happened before. Or, worse yet, I'll throw something out that really meant something to someone else in my house.

As with anything, I think our surfaces just really need a lot of work. Friends and family can help in this area, but we mostly need to do the work ourselves. It's helpful to have someone point out to us, "hey, ya know you really don't need that 20 year old broken plate even if your 3rd cousin twice removed made it for you", but ultimately we are the ones that have to make the decision to get rid of it. And then sometimes I think we need others to say, "I know that has been hidden at the bottom of that basket for a while, but it's important to take care of that." Let's face it, you know it's there and you treasure it or you would have thrown it out a while ago.