Abundance and Clutter
I was reading Judith Morgan's excellent blog this morning in which she was talking about decluttering and the sense of freedom and lightness that brings. That got me thinking about what's the link between clutter and abundance...because surely one definition of clutter is an abundance of stuff..The dictionary definition of abundance is: "a very great quantity, usually considered to be more than enough", Wealth, affluence, plentiful.. And Judith Levine in her intriguing new book. "Not buying it, my year without shopping" explores the idea of just purchasing necessities for a year.
My money has been more abundant this year than it has been for a long time and I ended up having a bit of a spending spree in Dublin. Now, my idea of a spending spree is still pretty modest: 2 pairs of Clarks shoes (half-price), some clothes from Dunnes stores, extra underwear, clothes for my son, a couple of 3 for 2 book deals.
But I did end up paying well over the odds for a jar of Clinique facecream. The shop assistant gazed at me intently (probably trying to contain her horror...as these make-up counter minions usually do), pronounced that I had a bit of red on my nose (well it was 30 degrees outside), gravely intoned that I needed to treat my neck like my face and whipped out a jar of night repair cream. I allowed myself to be suckered into it and I still regret it. It has not gone on any part of my anatomy yet.
I noticed a couple of things about the clutter/abundance phenomena. Now, I have to say I loathe clutter so there's not much of it in my house. And while on holidays I did a purge which felt even better. But I love the feeling of abundance around certain things. For example I always have two large jars of my favourite coffee in stock...enough to last at least 2 months. That's abundance for me, not clutter. Abundance is luxurious, liberating and has a sultry feel to it. Clutter on the other hand is annoying, distracting and irritating..except when it's put in its place...then it can feel like abundance! Books on the shelf, not the settee...
