Recently, I listened to a homily about the Vine and the Branches.
My priest talked about how, these days, we prune mostly for aesthetics – we mow the grass and trim the shrubs so they look even and tidy. However, in biblical days, pruning was necessary for 
survival. Growers would cut away the branches that weren’t producing fruit, so a plant could focus more food and resources on the branches that were productive.
I liked this analogy, and thought about how it pertains to the stuff of our lives.
Look around your home. What belongings of yours are productive? What items do you use regularly, reliably and with pleasure? Those are your productive branches.
Conversely, what items of yours are NOT producing fruit? What items are more trouble than they are worth? What do you have just too much of, so that your attention and resources are wasted.
Consider the cost of maintenance.
First, we purchase an item. If it’s an expensive item, perhaps we also purchase a special case for it, a warranty or an insurance policy.
We choose a spot in our home to keep it, and now that chosen space cannot hold other items.
OR… We don’t choose a spot in our home to keep it, and it floats around, getting lost or broken.
Or… We have so many other things that we have also purchased, the new item gets stuffed in the chosen spot with 10 other items, and now we can’t find anything. And that is just storage.
Perhaps our new special item requires temperature control or lighting, or special cleaning or regular maintenance.
The problem is not with the new item. If we have just an item or two that requires this special treatment, we can manage. The problem comes when we have many such items that require care and storage and maintenance and time, and our resources get spread so thin we can’t properly take care of anything!
“I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.” Bilbo Baggins, Fellowship of the Ring by JR Tolkein
In the interest of pruning, of cutting away the unproductive parts to focus on the productive parts, clear the clutter that isn’t serving you and your life.
For example, purge clothes you no longer need or want to make more breathing room in your closet and life for the clothes that really represent you.
Cull your books so that you can focus on the ones that actually hold an interest for you, and keep a smaller pile so that you might find time to actually read them!
Clear away the clutter from hobbies that you no longer love or participate in. I have clients with sporting equipment they haven’t used in 20 years, craft supplies they no longer have an interest in using, tools that are still in the box.
Cut away, metaphorically speaking, the unproductive parts so that you can focus your time and attention on the stuff of your life that serves you well!
Last week, I presented to a lovely group of women and made them laugh by expressing my love for clipboards.
AND can always find what they’re looking for and look fabulous?
lasts three (ish) months. Here in Chicago, the weather can change 30 degrees in a few hours, but Spring is Spring. I have dark, heavy clothes that I won’t wear again until Fall, regardless of how cold the weather gets. If I need to make room in my closet, I can hang just the items I’ll wear in the next three months, storing colder weather clothes and really hot weather clothes on a high shelf or under the bed.
multiple sizes of clothes cluttering their closets. Again, ask the “three month” question. Do the math – a healthy weight loss strategy suggests losing a pound a week. In three months, that would be an amazing 12 pounds! 12 Pounds may move you up or down one size from your current size, but only one. If you want to keep your much-smaller clothes, go for it, but don’t store them in your closet if you don’t have room. And purge the too-big stuff, so you’re not tempted to backslide!
And I brought the Fabulous to the front to make them easier to see. Meaning: Fellas? Ties. Ladies? Scarves.
Sometimes action costs money or time or other resources, true. But if you’re procrastinating around a business venture, or health care issue that you can’t seem to make the appointment for, or house repair that you’ve been avoiding, the better question is “Can you afford to NOT do this?”
as has dinner meal planning to make sure I have a meal planned that works with the next day’s schedule.
morning breakfast meeting today, so last night, I made sure my notes were in my bag. We still stumble, as the completed forms I laid on the middle-schooler’s backpack for him to take back to school today are still laying on his dresser… but tomorrow is another opportunity to turn stuff in!
cluttering the pile contents and adding attractive large wicker baskets to hold the bags and gear in the habitual drop zones seems a better solution than trying to establish new habits and drop zones elsewhere.
just never seemed to “work” right for you?
dirty laundry more like to get washed!
weekly errand for taking in and picking up.
felted hangers to take good care of your clothes and give your closet a tidier appearance.
you only wore once? or the track pants and sweat shirt you put on when you get home from work? Perhaps the jeans you wore for a little while but plan to wear again tomorrow. It’s not worth it to wash them all, or to hang them all up again, so we need a way to keep them close at hand but not strewn about your space!
coat closet, etc. However, many of us do not come and go from that front door. Last week, a friend asked if I could help with her new homes’ back door / drop zone / launch pad. In her words,
members can drop their bags as they come home. But they lack coat / accessory / bag storage.
for accessories and keys, and the lower set, installed 6-8 inches below the upper set, for coats, umbrellas or longer hanging items.
Fall is in the air.
hello boots and wellies. Toss the old or unmatched flip or flop, get rid of all but the last pair or two of sneakers (“Truly, dear, no one needs 4 pairs of old sneakers for ‘yard work.'” ). Take in any shoes in need of repair, and put away the rest. Then make space for the colder weather shoes and boots. Do the same with sport items. Play it Again Sports, anyone?
returned to a store? Stuff that belongs to other people? Take those piles / bags and boxes that are next to the door or already in the car, and get them Gone, gone, gone!!
already, especially considering we just painted the kitchen and office. We will also look for any supplies, like paint brushes and rollers, etc., before we head to Home Depot to buy paint and supplies.