Clutter-Free Home: Do not make the house a warehouse of useless things

“Sumit's mother has turned her fridge into a garbage bin. Yesterday I stayed with Sumit at his house for combined study. In the evening I opened his fridge to get water and found that he had stored drinking water in old bottles of Pepsi and Coke. I felt like vomiting on seeing them. Dirty and yellow bottles. Aunty doesn't even know that these bottles also expire and it is dangerous to drink water after storing it in them. I then went out and bought water for myself.” Radhika was telling her friend Sakshi about Sumit's mother's ignorance.

“Sumit's grandfather has a big medicine box. It is filled to the brim with medicines. But when he searches for any of his medicines, he never finds it. One day I was helping him to search for a medicine and I saw that many medicines in his box have expired but still he has kept them. The fridge is also full of medicine and tonic bottles. I don't know why aunty doesn't throw them away. I told Sumit too but he himself has turned his cupboard into a dustbin. His entire cupboard is full of old books, old comics and broken toys." Radhika further told.

Radhika's words are absolutely true not only about Sumit's mother or his family but also about many Indian housewives and families. Since we Indians have emerged from the difficult phase of poverty, the habit of collecting small things is in our genes. Along with useful things, we also collect useless and old things in our homes. We feel that if not today then tomorrow these will be useful to us. If we look at the things kept in our homes, we will find that there are many such things which we have not used for years, but our cupboards and boxes are full of those things. In every Indian house, you will find boxes full of old clothes. You will find bundles of newspapers and books. People keep heaps of old shoes and old utensils which are never used, bottles, locks, quilts, blankets, sheets, curtains etc. in the hope that if they become old, then they can be used for some other purpose, however they remain lying there for years. Dirt accumulates in these things. They get infested with fungus or termites. Or they themselves become old and start rotting but we still keep them safe.

Krishnaji is over 60 years old. Even today she has preserved her son's childhood clothes, books, crayons, his first uniform, his first sweater-cap, his small quilt and pillows, mattress and toys. One room in her house is filled with her son's childhood things, even though her son has settled in America with his family. Krishnaji is short of money. If she wants, she can rent out some rooms of her house. This will give her a good income and also end her loneliness, but she does not want to remove her old and useless stuff, old furniture and her son's things from the house. People see her house as a small museum.

There are many mothers like Krishnaji who keep the childhood memories of their children close to their heart till their death. This affection and emotional attachment is not seen in mothers of other countries of the world, but it is also very important to understand that after completing its life span, any object starts getting destroyed on its own or gets infested with insects. Keeping them in the house even in such a condition is inviting diseases. After a while, the pages of old books turn yellow and start breaking. Clothes get filled with dust and dampness and start stinking. Dirt and dust accumulated on things cause respiratory diseases. If old things are not removed from the cupboards, then termites attack them which destroy even good things. Wooden objects dry up and start crumbling after a while. Therefore, it is better to remove those things which are not useful from the house. Because these things also create negative energy in the house.

Children should take out their old books, toys and clothes themselves and give them to needy children. Elders should also sell old things to the junk dealer in time instead of keeping them in the warehouse and letting them rot. This will bring some money and the house will also become clean.

Elderly people should also sell the many things they have collected throughout their life in the last phase of their life and use that money for themselves. Otherwise, after their death, most of their things will be thrown in the garbage.

The responsibility of keeping the house clean is not only of the housewives, but of every member of the family. Old things are not collected only by the housewives, but the elderly, children and young people of the house also collect a lot of things and the entire responsibility of cleaning them falls on the poor housewives. Anuj's father has kept his grandfather's old car in the garage even today. Now it neither runs nor gets sold. The junk dealer will now buy it for a pittance but Anuj's father is still not ready to sell it. He says it is a memento of his grandfather. He keeps the old car in the garage and parks his new car on the road outside and goes out several times at night to check if a thief has stolen any part of the car.

The cleaner, less stuff and more spacious the house is, the easier it will be to maintain it. It can be cleaned properly and will look beautiful too. You must have noticed that there is more empty space in upper class houses. The stuff they need gets adjusted in the cupboards because they do not fill their cupboards with useless stuff. Whereas middle class people keep filling their house with more and more stuff. Upper class people buy branded things but in less number, which last for a longer period, but middle class people buy more things in the same amount of money which are local and get spoiled in a short time.

Apart from this, it also occupies space. When things get spoilt, housewives do not throw them away thinking that they were bought just a few days ago. In such a situation, if you want to keep your house beautiful and well-organized, then you will have to give up this mentality of collecting things. Buy less things, buy strong things and throw out useless things from the house immediately. Make your house liveable, not a garbage house.