Is living with clutter the answer?
Some days I look around our sailboat and think to myself, just give up and ignore the clutter, but I can’t. I can’t relax with stuff just laying everywhere and coping with the disarray on a daily basis can be daunting. In addition you do not want unsecured stuff just laying around. Unsecured items can become a flying projectile, a toe breaker, a trip hazard; in other words, clutter can be dangerous. So, is living with clutter the answer?
Cluttered but clean
I would never consider myself a clean freak nor OCD but a cluttered sailboat can become overwhelming. It can be smothering in such a small space. I have had to adjust to just how much clutter I am willing to live with.
When my kids were young, I used to say, “there is a difference between clutter and filth”. Maybe it was my motto to justify my house when my kids were young. There were backpacks and shoes by the door, towels on the bathroom counter and stray clothes scattered around. But my carpet was always swept, furniture and baseboards dusted and the toilets sparkled. My house had clutter but it was clean; it was lived in. Our boat is no different; floors are swept, dishes are washed and put away, toilet is clean.
Finding ways to manage the mess
Living with clutter on a sailboat has its challenges. A person has to become creative in finding every ounce of storage space so as to not drown in the disarray. I have reorganized several times since moving aboard to find better ways of storing and containing things. Storage baskets are an excellent way to organize. I can store more things in a basket than I can placing individual items in cabinets plus things are easier to find. Plastic hooks with a sticky tape mount are also great. No drilling into walls and they can be removed and relocated with ease. Of course, there are those days when you have just cleaned and you hear the dreaded words…”today we need to “insert project here” and suddenly your boat once again looks like a tsunami hit.
My 3 T's of living with clutter
Of course no amount of cleaning and organizing will rid the boat of all the chaos. For me, I have learned that living with clutter or at least a certain amount requires a new way of thinking. I try to follow the 3 Ts; 1.Take a step back, 2.Take a deep breath, and most importantly, 3.Take a look outside at natures beauty. And if that doesn’t work I say to myself the words made famous by Scarlett O’Hara, “I can’t think about that right now. If I do, I’ll go crazy. I’ll think about that tomorrow.”
