I grew up in a cluttered home so my favorite book was this one "What Happened to Piggy?" Poor Piggy got mixed up with the dirty clothes and had a frightening outing to a commercial laundry before returning home (luckily!) unharmed. After that big scare his family cleaned up their act and lived happily ever after. On top of having "What Happened to Piggy" drummed into my head, I was swayed by new age gurus saying that cleaning out clutter would reduce stress and create all kinds of new opportunities for spiritual growth and success.
I couldn't take the guilt any longer about how I was ruining my life with clutter so I decided to go all Niecy Nash/Clean House on myself and had a massive yard sale/DIY fix up. I now live in a mostly clean and organized home and I have to say: Piggy and the new age gurus both steered me wrong. I'm pretty sure some of the "Clean House" families got together for a good cry and some serious self medication in newly cleaned and organized homes -- that's what I did! I'm giving it a little (just a little) more time before heading to some yard sales to get my clutter on again. Meanwhile I've retreated to the only room in my home that is still somewhat messy -- the other rooms just scare me.
If you have plans for cleaning up your clutter and organizing your life I urge you to immediately stop feeling guilty about being a slob and just relax and enjoy. If you're still not convinced I suggest reading "A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder - How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices, and on-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place".
