"It's All Too Much!" ~ De-clutter your home and your life!

I am going to release some skeletons from my family closet! Yes, I come from a long line of hoarding, clutter bugs on my father’s side…well, perhaps it is not a long line and sorry dad , but perhaps I only inherited a partial gene for clutter. If anyone has seen my parents’ garage they will know my family’s dirty little secret. To my organized mom’s embarrassment and chagrin my dad must crawl over seemingly insurmountable mountains of stuff to actually enter his large two car garage. "It’s all too much!"

I have not inherited this extreme and almost compulsive attachment to stuff but I must admit to a bit of a hoarding inclination. I have difficulty parting with keepsakes and mementos especially those pertaining to my children. I adore photos, décor items, and books. I often have difficulty weeding out old items because well, you never know when you may need them even if they haven’t seen the light of day for years…am I right? Every time I move I realize the reproductive nature of stuff. The accumulation is unbelievable and daunting. I am preparing for another possible move this spring and I decided it was time to once more to de-clutter our home and our lives because as I dig through closets, drawers, and cupboards, bins and baskets “It’s All Too Much!”

"It’s All Too Much!" is Peter Walsh’s DVD based on the New York Times best-seller. You may remember Peter Walsh from the hit show “Clean Sweep” in which people’s homes and lives were transformed through a bit of organization know how, some tough love, and a big push in the right direction! Walsh has turned this formula into more than just organizational theory but therapeutic life changing step-by-step process to healthier clutter free living! I’ve decided to take some of Peter Walsh’s advice and though I don’t believe my family of five will allow me to follow this program in its totality I discovered a great many ways to tackle my hodgepodge and give new life and respect to the keepsakes gathering dust hidden away in old boxes in back closets.

Peter Walsh begins the de-cluttering process by asking that you bring no new items into the house for 3-6 months, then it’s time for what he calls the “Trash bag Tango”. Take ten minutes or so each day and carry two trash bags around the house, one for the garbage/recycling that you accumulate and the other for items to donate or sell. If two people collect two bags a day that’s 28 bags of stuff to go!

My favourite ideas from "It’s All Too Much!" is how to deal with my favored items, such as photos, children’s artwork, and family keepsakes. Walsh suggests taking photos of your children’s artwork and creating a bound photo book like so many photo shops now create. These beautiful volumes will be fit to display as you would a fine art coffee table book. Already this will eliminate boxes and scrapbooks I have struggled with for several years.

Out of sight is out of mind and while I have often stashed important mementos and keepsakes away in boxes for safe keeping this is no way to honour such consequential items. Peter Walsh’s solution, narrow down these items to those that evoke the memory you wish to hold on to and then display them in a way that shows them the proper honour and respect they are due using shadowboxes and cases for example.

It’s my children’s things which often become the biggest issue in our home. Limits and routines are Walsh’s answer to the issue of toys. A rule of thumb the toys must fit in the space provided. If there is an overflow or a new item is introduced when the space is full it is time to remove old items for donation or sale, label and find a home for everything using the old adage “a place for everything and everything in its place”.



Peter Walsh will lead you through your entire home, from the kitchen to the bedroom, the office to the garage, with specific storage and de-cluttering solutions. He wants to help people find a deeper quality of life over an accumulation of stuff. When I began this process preparing for our imminent move it was all too much but now that I am incorporating several of Peter Walsh’s suggestions what seemed an overwhelming task is far less daunting and is a freeing experience!
{And I think I may just pass this on to my dad!}


I have also received Peter Walsh’s book “It’s All too Much, So Get iI Together” for young adults which I will be writing more about in the future! But in the meantime one Northern Mama reader will receive Peter Walsh’s “It’s All Too Much!" DVD and his book "It's All Too Much, so get it together"!
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Giveaway open to Canadian and US residents ! Giveaway closes February 17th, 2010, 10:00pm CT. Please read Giveaway Rules for further details.