Moving to a new flat and the clutter

 

 

 My new flat

 

I remember when I moved in the new flat I had just bought. It was a brand new flat in the center of town, with 3 bedrooms, a beige carpet and white walls. It smelled like fresh paint and it was mine. Waw.

All of the flat was of course empty. No furniture, no art on the walls, just the fitted kitchen and the washing machine. I wish all moves were like this, offering you a new start, but usually, once the furniture removals company has dropped all your belongings, your house is already full of things. In this case, I was coming from a furnished rental so aside from clothing, I had very little.

I went online and looked for used beds, drawers, wardrobes, and a couple of weeks later, the flat was fully furnished.

That was back in 2009. Since then, I have rented those 3 bedrooms to three students, who come and go during the academic year. I went back to the flat a couple of month ago. The two storage rooms were full, the kitchen was full, the bathroom was full and each bedroom was full of stuff.

As a matter of fact, you could barely find place for new stuff. I know three roommates would need three tubes of toothpaste and three bottle of shampoo, three bottles of ketchup in the fridge and pretty much three of everything. They do share what I bought, like cutlery, plates and pots for cooking, or the TV in the living room.

But it was quite amazing to think that only three years back, this flat was as minimalist as can be, with only basic furniture and they filled it with clutter so fast.

I have almost reduced all clutter in my life, since I have been traveling on a motorbike, and all my things had to fit in a topcase, I trimmed the fat big time. But I know it is like a diet, if you take off the pressure, you start by eating a bit more, then some more, and before you know it you are back to being overweight. I hope this won’t happen with clutter once I settle down again.