Clutter

So I am a bit of a clutter bug and a pack rat. I keep almost anything just because I might wind up needing it somewhere down the line. Heck I have cloths ranging from a size 12 to a size 5X because I never know, my weight might go back up or down. Even though I haven't been under the X mark in over 10 years.
Recently we moved and I did get rid of a lot of things. But I kept way more things then I should have. On some level I think I felt justified because we moved into a bigger house. Now I am surrounded by boxes of clutter. Unfortunately it isn't just clutter though. Things that we still need are also in these boxes. It is just hard to tell where what is.
When we moved we had to throw out almost every last bit of shelving that we had. So right now my excuse is I can't unpack, because after all, I have nowhere to put things. However if I am honest this is actually bull, well at least partly bull. I know that once I start unpacking I will have to start making the decisions "What do I keep and what do I throw away".
My mother was like this when I was younger. She would keep things because there might be a use for them. Many things she really did use. She would use news papers to dry the windows after washing them. She would use old bottles of things to keep other liquids in. She would use old boxes of anything to put presents in. There were other things that she didn't really need to keep. Single socks that might someday suddenly have it's mate show up. Even though it had been missing for years. (Guess who else does that...yep me) Broken things that would never ever get fixed and replacements had already been bought for it. Those kind of things. I am pretty sure that a lot of these tendencies came from growing up in a country devastated by the second world war. She was a young child during the war but old enough to remember how difficult life was after. I guess it doesn't really matter what made her start  holding on to anything and everything that might possible become useful. The point is she did. When I was a child I would most definitely say she was a pack rat, but not a hoarder. Unfortunately over the years that changed. The desire not to through anything away grew. I visited my mother after not seeing her for several years, and was astounded on the load of junk she had in her house. The part that crossed the line was meat that she had in her freezer that was more then 2 years expired. I made her throw it out. I know she was upset with me. It was almost as if she couldn't see the way the meat had changed color in the package. She insisted it was still good. My Mother is set in her ways and will always be a pack rat at least, if nothing else. There really isn't anything I can do to change her. She is in her 70 and set in her ways. Personally I am fine with it as long as it does not extend to her food. Thanks to nurses who come to visit her now I am fairly certain this is no longer the case. Also apparently my parents eat mostly vegetarian now simply because neither can seem to handle meat to well.
Obviously I got my pack rat tendencies from my mother. Since I know this is true I need to acknowledge the fact that it is quite possible that as the years  go by pack rat will turn into hoarder. I am not as old as my mother obviously but I am pretty set in my ways. So it is actually kind of hard and scary to think of getting rid of some of my things. I don't want to do it. On the other hand I do not want to end up like my mother and have expired food in my freezer.
Guess what? To late. I was looking for something to cook for dinner and found fish that I have been saving for when we have nothing else to eat. No one in this family likes fish that much but we were trying to eat healthier. The fish is expired. These things happen no big deal. The problem is for a split second I found my self thinking. The fish isn't that expired I could probably still cook it and be OK. SAY WHAT? Where the heck did that logic come in? Granted it crossed my mind only for a moment but it still scares me. I guess it would be one thing if it was just me, but it isn't. For a split second I thought about feeding my family expired fish.
Consider that my wake up call. I don't want to be like that. I don't want to be so afraid of throwing away anything that it starts to boarder on the unhealthy side.
Also it's bad Feng Shui or how ever you spell that. Not that I know anything really about it but I do know clutter is bad. Negative energy get's stuck in clutter. Honestly I think there is something to that. Just imagine walking into a cluttered room then imagine walking into a room the same size but neat and uncluttered. You feel better and more at ease in the uncluttered room. At least I do.
So my goal is to get my house unpacked and de-cluttered. Now I am not full of illusions here. I know this will not be easy and it might take some time. However I know I am on the right track with this and I KNOW I will be successful with it. Positive attitude is everything.