Baby Steps

Today I took my husband by the hand and gently led him down the hall , out the door and onto the carport. I unlocked the shed and began to hand him box after box of items to be sorted. He didn't understand at first the need I had to begin the painful process of organizing and decluttering his domain. He really didn't see why it was a danger to have boxes stacked as high as his head, leaning like the tower of Pisa. What did it matter to me if he could barely squeeze through the space? So what if the shelves overhead were sagging with the weight of all things past crammed onto them? He became agitated that he was being forced to confront his demon, his tendency to save everything because someday he might find a use for that scrap of wood or sheet of plastic. This is not a man who grew up deprived. His father was a packaging engineer and his mother was a nurse anesthetist. They weren't extravagant but they also weren't miserly. His was a rather typical middle-class upbringing. He tried to justify the chaos by blaming his parents. When they down-sized we inherited a lot of their junk - old power and hand tools, half-finished woodworking projects, several million nuts and bolts, a flag pole and a few old flags, old mechanic's books, and other assorted items that really have no monetary or sentimental value that he just can't throw away. Added to that were box after box of sample plastic color tiles, sample fabric coatings, miniature sample containers, old sales presentations, headlights and other car parts from past packaging projects that he had worked on. I suggested that he either take those to the plant for storage or throw them out if he no longer needed them. I was made to feel that I was asking him to cut off his arms. But I persevered and we managed to make some progress. He threw out the equivalent of 4 large garbage cans full of junk and he agreed to take several things to his office. We packed up some items to go out to our rented storage unit (yes we still have those). He still has enough car wash detergent, wax, tire care, leather cleaner to open a car wash but at least now he can find it and won't have to run out to buy more. I am sure there is enough antifreeze to last for five or so years. He can now get to his workbench and actually find the most basic of his tools. There is now a designated space for extension cords and garden hoses. No more tangled mess to test his patience. Next weekend we will try to work on the overhead shelves. That's when the real struggle will ensue. I want to enforce a new rule: for every new item going in, two items must go out. Baby steps to clutter freedom.