Survey #262—Full Response from Amy
| Pronouns | She/her |
|---|---|
| Describe a reality check you’ve experienced as you’ve worked to declutter and organize your home—a moment when you realized that your ideas about stuff were at odds with the reality of your life. | * I finally realize that I will never turn our double closet-full of stacked boxed filled with photos into Creative Memory photo albums for each of my five adult kids. Two albums, beautifully made and captioned, were made in 1999 and 2000. I have ALL the supplies (specialty stickers, acid-free albums, special scissors, punchout units, etc.) in order to make albums for each of five kids, my husband and myself, and both sets of grandparents. Yet I have only done two! and that was 25 years ago! I keep dragging it all around from move to move. Now that I am a grandma, myself, I think I need to realize that it will NEVER happen. |
| Please share an “Aha!” moment you’ve experienced as you’ve worked to declutter and organize your home—an inspiration or flash of clarity that made the work easier or less emotionally challenging. | * An older friend had to clear her mother's immaculate (and very full-of-stuff) five-story house, which the wealthy mother had lived in for over 60 years. My friend said that, even though the things were pristine and valuable, there was just too much of it. At the auction, buyers were walking away with furniture worth hundreds or thousands of dollars for just pennies on the dollar. The estate sale didn't financially benefit the heirs (as the deceased believed it would) because no one had the time or ability to market items and obtain even a decently-partial value of things. The clearing out of that house was so time-consuming and emotionally draining for my friend and her family. Seeing my friend's stress taught me that I do not want my kids to have to go through any type of that physical and emotional stress. |
| Here’s your chance to ask Gayle and Ed any question you’re curious about. It need not be related to this survey’s topic(s). If we think that your question—and our answer—might be useful or instructive to The Clutter Fairy Weekly audience, we’ll share them in an upcoming episode. | Do you and Ed have any tips for someone in my position? My husband has stage 4 metastatic cancer. Diagnosed last year, those 12 months flew by. Everything at home was neglected, especially with all of the out-of-town travel for treatments. This year continues to be challenging since the cancer has gone into other places. It is a full time job researching and implementing every single possible tactic to try to extend the length and quality of life of my husband. My own mortality feels all the more close. How can I make progress on decluttering in the midst of all this? The emotional/mental exhaustion of being caregiver, researcher, and implementor leaves me feeling out of gas. |
| Future topics | Pet management! |
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