On Sunny Lane: That’s Fine With Me

I hate clutter.

I try to avoid it as much as I possibly can. Trouble is, it’s unavoidable.

I used to live in a seven-room house, with rooms that were huge. There was room to spread out and to display my favorite decorative items and mementos.

Sweetheart and I now live in a cottage with a great room and three tiny rooms. Everything I own and have an affection for has to be condensed into a much smaller area. Besides that, Sweetheart’s possessions have to fit into that space, as well.

All it takes to make the house look messy is to leave the newspaper lying on the table after we have read it. If only it was the newspaper alone that made it look messy. The dining room table seems to be a magnet for lost and misplaced items. One time I was searching the house for my cell phone and finally found it under a pile of papers on the table. I had already looked there three times.

I think the secret to neatness is to put everything away as soon as I’m done using it. Trouble is, I don’t always have the energy to put things away in the evening when it’s time to go to bed. Besides, if I take my shoes and socks off at night in front of the couch, they will be there in the morning. No one will see them, so it won’t be messy. It’s like when a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it. Does it make a sound?

Once upon a time, I had a friend who never let anything be out of place in her house. She didn’t let it get dirty either. She used proactive measures to accomplish that goal.

In fact, one day, when my children were small, we visited her. She asked the children if they would like to have a cookie and, of course, they did. We sat in the kitchen, where she had a wooden table and booth. As the children ate their cookies, she cupped her hands under their chins to catch the crumbs. It made me feel just the tiniest bit uncomfortable.

Every once in a while, I get the urge to declutter. I clear the dining room table of papers, the coffee table of books and magazines and the end table of extraneous materials. I take everything off of the kitchen counters that isn’t essential. The house looks really nice then. Trouble is, the clutter starts over again the next day.

I have friends who clutter their houses with keepsakes and mementos and make no apologies. They probably don’t even realize that it is cluttered. That’s fine by me.

That friend of mine, who caught the cookie crumbs midair, used to say that cleanliness is next to godliness. Our pastor says, “You won’t find that in the Bible.”

That’s fine with me.

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Dorothy is the author of two books—“Miles and Miracles” and “Getting It All Together “. You can purchase a book or send a comment by emailing her at dorothybutzknight@gmail.com