Our Rural Roots
Cleaning Out the Clutter
'Tis the season for family and friend gatherings, food and more food, and then, before long, for many of us, an onslaught of gifts to go with the good times.
Living in a "cozy" house (code for smallish with a lack of storage space), this time of year has been known to cause what I'll call "abundant anxiety." As in knowing the children would be amassing more things that they didn't necessarily need, adding to a house full of stuff I've never been good at keeping cleaned out. While our kids aren't small anymore, and the gifts tend to get smaller (albeit more expensive) with age, years and years of "things" have led to a recent desire, and finally more discipline, to let go of.
Did you know it's now incredibly easy to list items for sale on eBay, as well as Facebook Marketplace? If I'm telling you, it's easy -- IT'S EASY. The past several months, I've made enough to buy more than a few tanks of fuel (i.e., liquid gold), selling gently used homeschool books, shoes that found their way to my closet but never to my feet and the old cane rocker I had to have that was taking up valuable space in the attic rocking nothing but some dust.
It's been cathartic cleaning out bathroom cabinets (goodbye 10-year-old foundation I never wore), clearing off dresser tops and cleaning that infamous bedroom chair. You know, the one that collects all the clothes too clean for the wash but too dirty for the closet.
As a farmer's wife, it's been tricky business making sure not to dispose of any bolts, screws, (8-year-old) receipts, knives and seemingly useless pieces of metal in varying shapes and sizes, but so far so good, and no divorce in sight. It can be done.
There is beauty in letting go of what's keeping us bogged down. And, starting with cleaning out clutter in our homes has a way of cleaning out clutter in our hearts.
Happy letting go, friends.
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Meredith Bernard keeps busy writing, clearing clutter from dresser tops and tending to farm and family from North Carolina. Follow her on social media @thisfarmwife and visit her website at https://thisfarmwife.com/…
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