Is all clutter bad? (My stray sock pile, and a case for embracing some disorder as part of life)

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I love order. Something about having everything tidy and in its place gives me a sense of calm and peace, and actually makes me more functional.

But.

Living in a house with 7 people, it’s impossible to completely control the flow of “stuff” around our house. Dishes end up in the wrong cupboard. Toothbrushes idle on the sink. A sock may wind up balled up in a shoe, where it will be temporarily separated from its partner.

It’s those pesky transient socks that are the topic of my latest post for Babble, in which I embrace a new – and rather unfashionable – philosophy: Clutter is Life.

From the post:

But human beings, especially small, immature human beings, naturally leave a wave of stuff in their wake. We do what we can to stay a step ahead, but when we fight reality and try to perfectly rid our homes of all those minor “not quite sure what to do with this” piles (or beat ourselves up over their existence), we get in the way of our own sanity and actually make it more difficult to keep up with important things that need to be systemically organized (like medical records, financial paperwork or legal documents, for example.)

Please read the rest of the post and let me know – have you decided to accept, even embrace, a “perpetual sock pile” of your own?

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About The Author

Meagan Francis

I’m Meagan, Publisher & Creator of The Happiest Home. I'm a writer and mother of five who has been honing the fine art of satisfaction during my seventeen-year evolution into a (usually) happy mom. Here on The Happiest Home, I share what I’ve learned–and am still learning–about family life, motherhood, and the pursuit of happiness. You can read all my posts here.

One Response

  1. Kirstie

    The odd lonely sock is one thing, but we have embraced over 120 at last count. Seriously. We must be on some kind of lay line. We have reached the point of embracing them all and not bothering to match them but creating a new fashion movement by deliberately creating ‘matching’ odd ones. A fad which I think the manufacturer’s and retailers are starting to catch onto. Matching socks are so last year darling!