I recently finished reading the book Spiritual Housecleaning by Kathryn L. Robyn. Robyn relates each room in the home to a corresponding aspect of our emotional well being. For example, she relates the kitchen to nurturing. Closets she suggests hold what we withhold from our public persona. The stuff we are hanging onto that we don't necessarily want others to know we have lurking around gets tucked behind the closet door.
Robyn recommends you clean the room that matches the chapter you are reading as you go through her book. Her goal is to help you arrive at a cleaner house and better mental health by the end of the book. I didn't do the work as faithfully as she intended, but I did find her theory intriguing. I decided to gather my courage this morning and see what was lurking in the hall closet.
It turns out I have been hiding chaos. This actually does hold a ring of truth. In the outside world I have a handle on things. I am reliable and professional and I have it together. The closet outside the main bathroom tells a different story, however.
The top two shelves were jam packed with grooming products, over the counter medicines and first aid supplies. When I hit a sale I would grab two or three of these items. Over time the shelves got too full to see clearly what we had on hand. Sometimes it was easier to pick up another item at the store rather than take the time to see if one already existed on the shelf. Not only did this increase clutter, it wasted money too.
After pulling everything out of the closet I began combining half empty bottles and boxes filling an entire paper grocery bag of empty containers for recycling. I made another sack of lotions and bathing products to share with the women's shelter.
I placed shampoos and conditioners on a stepped shelf to make the products easier to find when I need to replace the ones currently in use in the bathroom. I made a basket of the cold and flu medications. I was shocked at the size of basket I needed to hold the pharmacy I had lining these shelves. I took a large tin and filled it with first aid products.
It is a good start, but there are still several more closets in the house. Who knew I had so much to hide?
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