At the top of the page are two cooking utensil holders. One is clutter, the other isn't. It isn't clear by looking at them.
But by taking a deeper look, it become clear.
Saturday night I noticed that my girlfriend was uncomfortable by her counter space. My clutter radar went off. I knew something in the vicinity was clutter for her. I picked up the black cooking utensil holder from the counter. I asked her if she liked it.
Her eyes lit up and she said, "One of my friends made me this for my bridal shower. I thought it was a nice place to keep the spoons...but screw it! She's always been mean to me, and I never actually liked her and I was always trying to get her approval. A part of me was trying to get approval by keeping this thing - even though I haven't seen her for ten years. She was haunting me through this!"
A few seconds before this moment, this was just a container sitting on her counter, serving a simple purpose. But by questioning it's place in her life, she realized the negative effect it was having on her. It was clutter.
My girlfriend tossed out the cooking utensil holder. She replaced it with with a colorful teapot.
She said, "I could feel like my eyes used to avoid this area. I could feel my eyes went, "Oh God, that stupid thing!" This whole area of the kitchen feels like mine now! It's awesome. "
