I MARRIED A PACKRAT: SOS!

This is an actual pack rat...of the animal kind!

What if you’re a feng shui fanatic and you end up with Mrs. or Mr. Packrat? There’s truth to the cliche that opposites attract. You have no choice over whom you fall in love with (and in the honeymoon phase we tend to overlook a lot!). But if your guy or gal is a collector chances are they have difficulty letting go of anything. Can anyone tell me what that leads to? NOoooo, the answer is not divorce. The answer is: clutter. And clutter is anathema to good feng shui. What to do?

*Be gentle on yourself. That’s right: nobody’s perfect. Not even you! So just because your space isn’t perfectly clutter-free all the time doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. Remember that feng shui is fluid and there’s always room for improvement. Lighten up on yourself AND your partner.

*Choose your battles. This means don’t ask your partner to change everything about themselves all at once. Start by eliminating some of the clutter in small baby steps. IE: you can agree to toss out old magazines and newspapers after a set period of time.

*Organize the collections. If you’re partner is a serious collector, encourage her to keep her collection organized. If the collection is taking over the home, ask her to display only part of the collection at a time and store the rest. Rotate the collection much like an art museum would do. This should keep your partner happy and give you and your ch’i (energy) some breathing room.

*Letting go is easy. Want your partner to let go of his clutter? Try letting go of your attachment to his letting go of his clutter. In other words, let go of nagging him to do it. Instead, focus on cleaning and clearing your shared space. You’ll be surprised how this often inspires others to want to keep their space clean, too.

*Introduce your partner to feng shui slowly. Try adding one tip at a time to your household. Keep track of your results and share them with your partner.