Altar Challenge
Before you skip this article because you don’t have an altar set up in your home, please keep reading. Altars are created to honor your gods, ancestors, and values, so let's focus on the word Honor. When we arrange significant photos or items carefully, surround them with pretty things like candles and sentimental odds and ends, we’re creating a space to honor the people and memories the items invoke. A lot of us do this without calling it an altar. This isn’t clutter. I’m going to say that again. It’s NOT clutter, but… without the intentionality, these spaces of honor are clutter magnets.
Have you ever picked up a loose screw, not been able to figure out what it belonged to and thought, I’ll just stick this here for now. Did you decorate the area with Christmas cards and accidentally leave them there all year? Or has your space for honoring family and nature been overrun with random rocks and broken sea shells whose origin you no longer remember?
At this point, you’ve probably identified which shelf, wall space, dresser top, or window sill you’ve been treating like an altar. Without rituals for upkeep it might be anywhere from a bit dusty to looking like a doom pile. Here’s your chance to pick one (or more) of these spaces and bring it back to a state of dignity. This challenge is about aligning your space with your values, which is in my opinion, the heart of decluttering.
Preparation:
If you really like the general arrangement you currently have, take a picture of it, so you can remember where things went.
Get a dusting cloth and cleaning products ready, like glass cleaner and dusting spray, and you’ll likely want to have a trash can and your donation bag handy (I assume everyone has a slowly filling bag for donations, and if you don’t, nows a good time to start one)
Find a stable surface to safely lay things on that you want to keep, or lay a towel on the floor where it’s safe from pets, kids, or general clumsiness.
Decluttering:
Cleaning: Item by item, remove each one and clean off the dust. Throw any obvious trash in the trash can. (I find candy wrappers in the weirdest places) MOLD: if there’s mold (green or black dust, with a speckled or spotted design) on anything, carefully put it in a plastic bag so not to spread the spores around, or immediately take it outside. We don't mess with mold. You can save items that aren’t porous by washing off the mold dust and wiping the item down with hydrogen peroxide (do a test in an inconspicuous spot first to make sure the material can stand up to the cleaner and doesn’t disintegrate or bleed color) If the item is fabric or porous, do an internet search for how to clean mold off that specific type of thing. To be honest, If the item isn’t special to you, I’d throw it away. Mold spores infest the air, like to travel, and are looking for new things to colonize.
Sorting, or not: I love an opportunity to sort a pile of things into several piles of things, but I will concede that in this challenge, this step isn’t necessary, except for the last category. If you’re going to sort more, here are some categories to consider.
High significance: clear connection to people or memories you are honoring, like framed pictures, hand carved heirlooms, Eras tour ticket stubs, etc.
Medium significance: you still remember where it came from, maybe you’re not super attached though.
Low significance: can’t remember where it came from or why you saved it but it feels familiar
Decorative only: acquired only for its aesthetic and good vibes
Not related to the altar at all: sometimes things just get put in a place until we can find their forever home, and today we’re deciding the altar is not the spot for that.
Give your cleared off altar surface a thorough cleaning.
Now we rebuild, starting with the items of highest significance. With the items laid out, you can pick through them carefully, but consider an item and if it represents the people and things in your life that you value. It’s possible, most of the stuff you took down won't make it back up. That’s ok. Tips in no particular order:
If there are multiples of things, choose one or two to represent the bunch.
If you can’t remember why it feels significant, but think it might come back to you later, make a box for these things and stash them in your closet for a few months.
I keep thinking about the line “leave room for Jesus” that is a staple of uptight chaperones at middle school dances to keep the kids from dancing too close. Make sure you leave room for the chosen items to dance on their own, and there’s not so much of it that they get lost in the crowd and lose their significance.
Decorate sparingly. Imagine you’re creating an atmosphere for the people and things you value. You want them to be cherished and honored, and you’re doing that by making your altar as nice as you can. This is where the candles and pretty things come in, but again, sparingly.
You did it! Take a moment to admire your beautiful fresh altar, but don’t get too distracted. There’s likely a pile of stuff leftover that needs to be dealt with, or all you did was move a mess from one spot to a different one.
Clean Up:
Dispose of anything that belongs in the trash or recycling, like disintegrating dried plants, broken bits of things, candles burnt down to the wick, etc..
Tough decision time: Pick up something that didn’t make the cut to the fresh altar. Does it have a use or purpose? Is it worth keeping for a different altar or scrapbook? Is there an obligation to pass it on to another family member? Could it be a gift? Could it decorate your garden? Could you sell it? If you answered all no’s, it belongs in the donation bag.
For the stuff that never belonged on the altar in the first place: obviously, put it away. If it doesn't have a designated home, think about where other similar items are kept, or add it to the doom box for now. (If you don’t know what this is, I’ll be publishing a treatise on the defense of doom boxes soon) There are so many individual decisions that have to be made while decluttering, and sometimes brains just can’t make them all in one day. This challenge is about altars, so if it wasn’t really a part of the altar, and you’ve made too many decisions already today, into the doom box it goes.
If talk of altars at this time of year makes you think of the altars constructed for Dia de los Muertos, yes, that’s what inspired this challenge, though ofrendas (altars of offerings) are usually taken down within a week. Traditions vary across Mexico. It is a BIG country, but overall, I’m also inspired by the willingness to openly talk about death and treat it as a next step in one’s journey, rather than a final farewell. Since I’m stealing inspiration from one culture’s practices around death, let’s talk about another culture’s preparations for death, specifically Swedish Death Cleaning.
I’ve read the book and watched a few episodes of the tv show (spoiler, episode 4 is a real tear-jerker) and can confidently say that Swedish Death Cleaning isn't really about cleaning. Okay, it’s mostly about cleaning, but the core message is to prepare for your death so you don’t leave your loved ones with a literal and metaphorical mess to deal with. If that appeals to you, here are some extra steps you can take during this challenge.
in no particular order…
Label the backs of pictures with names and an estimate of the year it was taken.
Write down a list of the most important items you placed on your altar, including where they came from and why they are significant to you.
Make a list of who you’d like to give any particular item to after your death, or put a small sticker on the bottom with the person’s name. If it’s a larger item, ask them first if this is something they’d want.
Obviously, there’s so much more to it than that, but death is a tough topic and there’s no rush to do it all now. Same goes for decluttering. Enjoy the process, it isn’t a race.
Happy Sorting!