Clutter

Change is never easy, but it usually is good. I am being reminded of this as I am turning my house upside down in preparation for a roommate. It has been a process of going through my house and moving things from room to room trying to free up the space needed for the new roomie. I am feeling that I'm close to being done with moving things around and yet I know there will be more to do when he moves in. 

I have been amazed in the process of moving stuff just how inefficient I am with my space. I am only one person here in the house and yet I have every room filled with something of mine. I know that this may sound like an obvious comment but it's not just the stuff one puts out for decoration. It's stuff that is personal like clothing, artwork, and gifts. It's like my life became a sprawl. With no reason (or apparently discipline) to keep things together, I have allowed it to go everywhere. As I'm writing this I'm reminded of one of my first posts that I wrote about keeping things clean. In the same line of reasoning I've allowed myself to become lazy and just leave things everywhere rather than keeping things concise for myself. I guess that there isn't anything intrinsically wrong with this but it seems somehow wasteful. It makes me wonder if my house were twice as big would I still be filling it up with crap? 

As I've prepared for this weekend and the move I have been consolidating my things. I have found many items that I didn't even remember that I had. Some things were donated and others simply thrown away. What I'm left with is a more streamlined and lightened me. It is interesting how I can feel lighter because there is less clutter around me. I have never been one that wanted to be in a messy house and yet with the sprawl my house was frequently in that state. Now I find that I'm keeping it clean most of the time. It is easy to keep it up when there isn't as much to mess it up. I think that having a roommate has already been a positive experience and he hasn't even moved in. 

Wasted space, wasted energy... I need to be more economical with my life. I think that this change is helping me to see that I'm not using my resources as well as I could be. I think this goes beyond the scope of my house and my belongings and is more about how I live. What if everything I did in my day had meaning of some sort rather than just filling it up random items? Does that mean that I would have no down time at all or would I simply be focusing on what is important? Where else am I being wasteful with my resources? It is time to do another inventory mentally and see where I can lighten my own load. 

If everything I did had meaning, then wouldn't that mean I'd always be living in the moment?