The search turned up blogs about “minimalism”: a lifestyle of living with less and being happy with, and more aware of, what you already own. As she began to acquire more and more stuff and more and more debt, she began to feel as if she was falling into the pattern set by her mother. Each new purchase brought a small dopamine rush that faded as soon as the thing was out of its box and taking up space. She wanted to be like the people in adverts, with their immaculate stage-set living rooms. Clutter was creeping back in, she realised, even though this time she thought she was fully in control.Īndersen wanted all the things she had lacked in childhood, the comforts her colleagues and neighbours enjoyed. But the anxiety over her oppressive surroundings at home never left. Over time, her career took her to Alaska and then to Ohio, where she now lives with her husband, Shane, and works as an aerospace physiology technician. At 17, she left home, joined the air force and moved to New Mexico.
#Minimalist declutter for free#
Anything her mother could get for free or cheap, she would bring into the house and leave there.Īs a child, Andersen kept her own space under control, but, beyond her bedroom door, the mess persisted.
An avalanche of pots and pans spilled all over the kitchen counters and floor. Furniture that Andersen’s well-meaning grandmother found on the street accumulated.
On the kitchen table there were piles of clothes stacked all the way to the ceiling, things they would get for free from churches or charities. It might have been grief over the lost marriage that caused it, or maybe it was a habit that had grown worse as her mother’s dependence on drugs and alcohol intensified. Then she realised she was living with a hoarder. Her parents split when she was eight years old and she moved to Colorado Springs with her mother. S onrisa Andersen’s childhood home was a mess.
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