"Oprah helps clear clutter..." "Judith Whitehead"

Guest blogger Judith Whitehead is back with another inspirational  Monday blog. Judy talks of cluttered basements, here in Hawai'i nobody has basements but many have cluttered garages, carports and  storage buildings. For those in Hawai'i and on the west coast just substitute  another  cluttered spot for the word basement. I found myself wishing I lived where Judy lives, imagine having the "Goodwill" come to your house to pick up your clutter, no such thing where I live. Mahalo Judy, Mahalo Oprah   ;D)

 A few weeks ago I was viewing one of my favorite shows on T.V. on my day off, the Oprah Show. Her topic that day was cluttered homes and basements where people horded items to the point that they couldn’t function in their own homes. I found it to be inspiring enough to make a plan with my husband to clean and clear out the basement that is a perpetual catch-all for all those items that we “may need in the future”.

I knew this would be a monstrous task since we have a “saver of valuable items”, in our home. Most of our basement consists of items such as old furniture that may be of use to our children when they move out; well, we’ve moved three times now, and they are still waiting to be of use.

We decided to take Oprahs’ advice and make three piles; one for garbage, one for saving and one for the goodwill truck. During the past few weeks we have run across such treasures; it has been a trip down memory lane. Clothing that are three sizes too small saved carefully in boxes just waiting to be worn again. Of course the styles are out dated and it would be short of a miracle if those things ever fit again; Photograph albums that document every year of our children’s’ memorable moments of which there are so many. It has become a sobering experience to see what has been stored in this large area of the house, piles of clutter and useless papers. I almost envy those areas of the country that don’t have basements to save these things in. It seems whenever we replace anything in our homes, we must save the previous item just in case we may need it in the future. The Waste Management team that collects in our neighborhood must think someone has
moved in each week from the looks of our garbage pile. I am almost on a personal level with the Good Will man that mans the truck each week, when I unload the trunk of everything. It has given us some great satisfaction that not only are we donating to such a good cause but we also are slowly making the basement organized and clutter free. We have a very long way to go though; our basement is large and in some areas, stacked to the ceiling with sealed boxes that need sorting through.

I have become so inspired that when the basement is done, I think we will start on the other parts of the house. I know my husband will be none too happy to partake in that task, but it is something that must be done. I think couples are divided into two categories; those that save and those who throw out. We have one of each in our home, I think most people do. I came from a family of “let’s throw it out”. My husband is from the savers group. This makes for a daunting task every time we enter those basement doors. But through compromise and a little convincing, we are making great progress. In fact the cleaning bug has inspired my son. Last week he painted the stair well and walls to the basement and it looks 100 percent better. We have also come across some items that will be good for listing on e-bay. That has proven to be a great way to unload unwanted items. They are easy to list and very satisfying when sold. And as for the unsold items…there’s always our summer block garage sale to get rid of the rest. Every summer we have a wagon train of cars rummage through the streets in our development looking for treasure. Some people just like the hunt, but many drive off with cars loaded with found treasures. It’s a show worth watching.

Check out Oprah's website about clutter; http://www.oprah.com/home/Clutter-Control  and remember to send dakinetalk your rants, raves, inspirations, jokes, political and religious views or whatever is heavy on your mind. We want to publish your guest blogs. Keep blogs 200-500 words give or take, who knows maybe your guest blog will go viral! Send all submissions to; jrsensei@hotmail.com  attention, Publisher