Did she do it?

That is the question on everyone's mind, I know. Did Melissa successfully sort through her clothing? Last time I checked in, she was working on it. Her deadline is today and I'm rooting for her.

Now, I'm not very sappy, sentimental, or soft. Several of my friends refer to me as being bootcamp worthy. My friend Ally used to threaten her kid's with "Martin's Bootcamp" when they were getting on her nerves. BUT, I'm not heartless. I understand the difficulty people have when parting with their stuff. I have two pieces of clothing I have kept since the 1990's: a GUESS denim skirt that I was so HOT in and a Charles Barkley jersey that a friend sent me from Phoenix. I can't wear either, but they hold meaning and I keep them.

As for everything else? It's gone. We have to ask ourselves why we keep things. Are we too lazy to sort it all out? Are we scared of being without? Do we have mental issues? (Rude, I know! And I'm only referring to the psychological reason some people hoard, but I'm not qualified to talk about that because I have my own set of mental issues.)

Here's what we have to remember: Physical clutter affects us emotionally. It keeps us from enjoy our space, sleeping well, and feeling pressured all the time to fix it. I have a friend whose house is so full of crap that she only has a small living room she can maneuver in. The rest of the house is FULL. And what ever picture you have in your head of full, double it. One room is full from the floor to my waist of plastic bags filled with crap she can't even remember that she has. I kid you not. And on top of that, she never wants to be home, she doesn't sleep well because she sleeps on a loveseat every night, and she can't keep her life straight.

A clutter free home allows us to not only have room to walk and move around in, but it helps to clear stresses from our minds so that we can relax and be the person God intended us to be. People and loved ones are what is important, not how many books or sweaters or shoes we have.