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Too Much Stuff ~ Interview with Kathryn Porter

7:12 PM, Feb. 26, 2007

A few months back I was approached by an author asking to help promote her book. I took a look at what her book had to offer. I needed to know if it was something Christian homeschoolers could use. Now you tell me, does the below book look like something we could benefit from?

I thought so too! De-Cluttering Your Heart and Home is the subtitle and this book will help you to do just that if you are willing to truly throw away the things you don't need in your life.

Author Kathryn Porter knows what clutter can do. Her mother died from a direct result of too much clutter. She became determined to keep her home clutter free and to help others gain freedom from their stuff.

Kathryn walks you through your home and helps you to stop and really think about why you have the things you do. It isn't just the junk in our closets and cubboards that fill up our homes, it's also the clutter in our hearts and minds. Too Much Stuff reads like a devotional, with scripture references and places to write out thoughts.

I'm not into psycho-babble, so when I first stared the book I was little worried about what direction this de-cluttering of my heart was going to take. Kathryn just points out the obvious; baggage from our pasts can cause problems with our relationships in the future. She leaves it to the reader to sort out what that baggage is and reminds us to leave it with Christ.

After reading the book I had a few questions to ask Kathryn.

Tia - Homeschoolers tend to be clutter bugs! I know I have saved paper towel tubes for that future science or art project because when I have wanted one in the past I didn’t have it when I needed it. Granted I don’t save every paper towel tube, I just keep a couple on hand. What advice would you give to those moms who do save every last scrap of “garbage” for future use?

Kathryn - Before saving items for future use, we need to get organized so we take advantage of items we bought for today. I understand that we want to save money by being thrifty and holding on to scraps. But at what cost are we doing this?

Everything we own has a price tag, even if it was given to us for free. There’s a cost to keeping every last scrap of “garbage.” We pay extra in terms of time, energy, and money to clean, maintain, organize, store, and insure our belongings. Keeping every last scrap can bankrupt relationships—who has time for loved ones when we have to tend to all that stuff?

In terms of schooling, children learn more by what is caught than what is taught. There is a difference between keeping a few items we know we’ll be using later in the school year verses keeping everything because we might find a use for it someday. What are we teaching children when we save every last scrap? Are we teaching them to be good stewards or are we teaching them that the home is some kind of storage bin or trash recepticle?

Tia - You talked about buying and saving curriculum even before your son was old enough to begin academics. Many of us save textbooks to be used for the next child because those books are expensive. I have bought books, sold them and then purchased them again because I realized it was exactly what I needed for the next child after all. Buying curriculum on one income can be very hard on the budget for many of us, but to have to buy it twice! Do you have any special thoughts or tips for homeschoolers about this?

Kathryn - I made the mistake of accumulating curriculum when I was pregnant because I was so excited about homeschooling. After a couple years and a couple moves, I realized that it was silly to keep so much stuff for the future. I could barely handle all the baby items people were giving me and there I was trying to organize school materials anywhere from a pre-school to fifth grade level. Common sense eventually found me. How much of this would be out of date by the time I was ready to use it? How many other better items would I find? Would I still like the books I bought or would my curriculum preferences change?

While I understand the need to buy some things ahead of time, we need to be smart about it. My rule of thumb on curriculum is that if it’s not going to be used within two years, it’s not worth buying. To clarify, that means it must be used for the present school year or the following school year. If I come across hard to find items like books out of print, I might bend that rule a little. The key is setting guidelines, but allowing flexibility.

Tia - One of the things that I enjoyed about your book was how you talked about emotional attachments to objects in our homes. Mainly about things we are fond of or at least thought we were fond of. What about the objects that we are afraid to get rid of because the person who gave it to us might ask where it went? Especially if they paid good money for it and did actually put some thought into the purchase?

Kathryn - I used to worry what people would think if they learned I threw away a gift, but not anymore. Instead of thinking, “ I can’t throw this out because it was a gift,” I now embrace the philosophy that a gift is a token of love that comes without strings. I accept it as an expression of affection or appreciation without feeling guilted into keeping it.

I once thought it was sin to get rid of items for which we paid “good money” whether it was a gift or not. Incidentally, whether something cost $1 or $100, it was still good money. Whether a gift comes straight off the clearance rack or from the full-price rack, we all work hard for every dollar we spend. But regardless of how much we pay for something, if it does nothing to enhance our homes or enrich our lives, it’s worthless.

Tia - A couple of years ago we moved from one state to another. I actually longed to be rid of much of my clutter! I even daydreamed about the house burning down so I wouldn’t have to move it and find a place for it all over again. However, my attempts at getting rid of thirty some odd blankets, books, music, videos, dishes, and a myriad of other items were thwarted by my relatives. They insisted that I might need or want those items later. If nothing else those ratty blankets might come in handy for coddling a sick dog. I wound up feeling guilty for wanting to “waste” what I had. You guessed it; I moved it. Not once, but twice! How do we deal with family and friends who mean well, but really can’t imagine the stress those objects are bringing us?

Kathryn - Excellent question. While well meaning friends and family convince us to keep stuff we really don’t need, they are probably not going to play housekeeper for us when we can’t keep up with it all. Remember, the more we have, the more we have to clean.

The real waste comes from keeping things we don’t need. They waste valuable real estate in our homes and steal room in our hearts. Clutter wastes mental energy—even if we’re not actively thinking about all our stuff, it still lurks in the back of our minds. All our extra junk wastes physical energy too because the more we have, the more we have to clean.

Regardless of what other people think, you have to decide what stays and what goes. If certain people are persuasive in convincing you to keep stuff, simply don’t tell them when you’re getting rid of stuff. Take the items directly to your local charity donation center.

Instead of placing so much weight on other people’s opinions, establish your own guidelines for de-cluttering and stick to them. Here are a list of questions to help you get started:

Do I really love this?
Do I really need this?
Is it easy to clean?
When was the last time I used it?
How often will I use it in the future?
Do I have similar items that perform the same function?
Is it in good repair?

Kathryn, thank you! I have already gone through my entire home, garage and pump house getting rid of all the things I don't use or need. I feel so much better!

The contest that was with this interview has been moved to High Desert Hi-Jinks.

Tia Linschied
Senior Editor of HSB

Posted in Contests, 4 comments, Link
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Comments
Untitled Comment

9:57 PM, Feb. 26, 2007, posted by Anonymous

Sounds like a book I could REALLY use! I've recently been getting rid of BAGS of stuff,but there's still WAY too much stuff in this house!
I'll have to check out the book.
Eleanor Joyce

Untitled Comment

9:54 AM, Feb. 28, 2007, posted by DanielleW

This is funny because I just took before pictures for myself. I'm working on clearing out a room that has become the junk room. It is slow going because I want to get rid of stuff instead of moving piles around. I'm a big pile mover.

Here is my link:
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/DanielleW/292393/Clutter+Contest.html

Untitled Comment

12:42 PM, Feb. 28, 2007, posted by ElCloud

Aw man ... sounds great!! BUT ... I'm too embarrassed to show some of my cluttered areas. LOL!! And, I might be lying if I said I planned to declutter it this way and use the area that way. Because plans change, and it might be a year before I actually get it done. So, I'm not sure if I could honestly post about it or not. OF course, this is largely because most of my cluttered areas are actually storing my husband's computer stuff, and not really my domain. Oh well.

April

Boy, I wonder if it would help this packrat!?

1:04 AM, Mar. 1, 2007, posted by DonnaC

I could sure use that book.....maybe. I'll have to consider entering this one... It's daunting just to think of sharing a picture, though. (It'd have to be here in my living room - our only real room to live, eat, school, have family time, etc. It's gotten away from me after dealing with some chemical depression and now as I'm coming out of that, it's just overwhelming.) But it sounds like a GREAT book! Thanks for giving us a peek into it!

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