Clean heart, clean home

What i cant stand most is a mess. And worse if the mess is filled with a hoarder's incessive need to fill herself with 'things'. I understand that people go though a low in their live where they were poor and had nothing. With the improvement of lifestyle, they now can afford more things that they could not afford before. Therefore they buy and buy and buy.
I have been poor before. I never had a real toy. No doll, no dollhouse or stuffed toy. Just stuff we make out of paper and cloth. There was never a case where food was left lying around. Because when there is food, it will be consumed fast. Even a pot of curry can be left in the fridge for a week and it has been eaten and considered good.

I've been through a time when, i started buying toys for myself at the age of 13. But after my mother gave away my toys without permission, i begin to realise that life is more than just 'things'. Its family, friends, relationships. Its not what we eat, but who we eat with that matters.
These money cant buy.

Maybe my coping strategy is to have a consistent need to put my life in order. Therefore, the need to have a neat home. But its hard for me to comprehend the need to buy 10 combs when somewhere in Haiti, no one will even think about buying a comb as a neccesity.
Its even harder for me to comprehend the amount of food threwn into the dustbin. Because you bought too much, when you knew you cant finish it and bought more anyway.
With the grace given to earn money, it is absolutely disgraceful to be throwing away money like that. Throwing your money on 9 other combs you dun need. And throwing away food, that is still money spent. Yes yes. I know one does deserve to pamper yourself once in a while. But the key to everything in life is balance right? Does filling your life with more and more things fill you?

You come back home, tired from a busy day at work. You wanna watch tv and you cannot find the remote control. Because it is some where in the pile of titbits you have on your coffee table. You search through and smelt something foul. Oh yah! Its the noodle soup you forgot to clear 3 days ago. Then you want to sit down and found that you have pile of clothes you cleared from your laundry. And oh man! the dog peed on it. Oh i gotta wash it again. You feel hungry and wanna eat something. You open the fridge. You try to recall if the 4 boxes of cakes in the fridge, which was the freshest? You cant recall and pick the one in front. You chewed into the cake and realise it taste funny. Oh your day feels even more tired now. You switch off the tv and decide to just sleep. You enter your room and saw few pile of clothes you have been telling yourself to fold since a month ago. You try not to see the pile of clothes and sleep.

This is a classic day in a life of my mother in-law.

Your house is a santuary. You come back home, you wanna feel relaxed, comfortable...
I cant feel relaxed having rotten food lying around. I cant have piles of clothes lying around and accumulating dust. I cant feel relaxed when i feel that somehow my home is as messy as my work. Both of which i dun seem to have a control of. But u do! Control your life, control your home. Be a good steward for the ability to earn money and spend money. Use is wisely and not throw money away as you like it. Yes you can reward yourself. But if your need to fill things have clouded your closet, every flat surface in your home and even your bag. You dun even remember where you put your stuff most of the time. You need to get a grip on your life. Cos i think when you cant come home to a santuary, you feel unconciously frustrated. And it affects your mood. And if you can ignore the big mess around you, what does that tell of you when it comes to real situations. Have you learnt the ability to ignore them too?

They say how a pet is, you know the owner's character. Same thing applies to your home. The style of a home. The layout, your colour choice or the furniture. Reflects YOU. So whats does a messy home tell people about you?

I dun mean neatness to the tee. Or cleanliness to the tiniest speck of dust. But mountains of food on the dining table. Having a meal is a chore. No table in your home is usable, as they are filled with things. You have clothes you wore since 8 years old. You have 20 of each possible thing you have. You are buying more than you use. You are throwing as much as you have spent. Or what you are using is not even 10% of what you bought. You have no longer place to walk or sleep. Or even open or close your room door. You have food dated from 1972 and its not wine.

Clean heart, clean home.