A couple weeks ago I posted an article titled “Why You Don’t Need to Buy Storage Containers to Keep You Organized.” You can go read the article if you missed it, but I talked about how fancy storage containers don’t keep you organized. You need to actually declutter your possessions before trying to organize them. However, I might have lied a little bit. If you aren’t decluttering properly, then decluttering won’t help you stay organized either. Decluttering is 100% mindset, and if you are constantly decluttering, you are doing it wrong!
We’ve all been there with decluttering. We declutter our homes just to find our house filled up with more stuff we don’t use a short time later and we can’t figure out why (other than the obvious, “We bought more stuff”). It can be incredibly frustrating and deflating, because we can’t keep our homes [perfect, clean, organized, insert any other adjective you use to describe your home]. It can become so overwhelming that we just give up because we can’t see the point of decluttering.
Light has been shed on this topic with the minimalism movement becoming more mainstream and shows like “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” being widely accessible on Netflix. Unfortunately, minimalism still gets misinterpreted (as you can read about in this article I wrote awhile ago), and people are still spending their time doing the wrong things.
So let’s briefly discuss what minimalism truly is – the intentional choice to make room for what matters most to you. Therefore, decluttering does not work (or at least won’t last long-term) if you have no clear direction or goals. The key to successful decluttering is to first spend some time evaluating your values, priorities, and goals (both short-term and long-term). Understanding what you want your life to be will help you let go of anything that does not serve your vision. Joshua Becker from becomingminimalist.com recommends completing this sentence: “I desire to own less, so I can [fill in the blank].”
You then need to determine the purpose of each space in your house. What do you need from the space? How does the space need to function in order to fulfill your life vision? Who else will be using the space? How do they need the space to function? Thinking about the life you want to create based on what is important to you and your family should help you clearly define the goals of each room.
When you finally get to decluttering it should be much easier to determine what stays and goes. You can create three piles for your items – items that need to be relocated, those that can stay, or those that you need to remove (aka donate, sell, give away, etc.). You’ll also want to start in the easiest spaces first (mudroom, entryway, etc.) where it will be relatively easily to declutter and won’t take too much time. These little decluttering wins will also help you stay motivated to declutter all of your spaces.
While it may be easier overall to identify clutter, you may still run into some challenges. These include not getting rid of items because:
- You feel guilty for wasting money on something you rarely use
- You feel guilty for getting rid of an item that was a gift
- You may need the item “just in case…”
- It is a sentimental piece
You need to confront and overcome these challenges in order to live your best life, the one you envision. There is always an ongoing cost for any item in your life – whether it be time and energy worrying about the item, feeling guilty, or the additional money you spend caring for, storing, or cleaning it. Instead of re-living your mistakes, commit to making better decisions moving forward. Let it be known that those who deeply care for you would not want something they gifted you to be burdensome.
“Just in case” items are hard to let go of because of 1) who you believe yourself to be or because 2) you have a scarce mentality. Journaling and writing out your values, priorities and goals can help you get to know and understand yourself better so that you can let go of items that don’t serve the true you. For those who believe that there will never be enough (especially hard if you’ve experienced or witnessed others who have not had enough), you need to be honest with yourself about the likelihood of needing the items in the future and your ability to replace them. What is the worst that would happen if you couldn’t replace the item? Would you be able to borrow it? If you tend to stockpile items set a limit on how much you are allowed to store (and buy after you start using your reserves). You can also set items aside in storage for a predetermined amount of time, and if you haven’t needed them by the end, either sell them or donate them.
Sentimental items might be the hardest to let go. You need to keep in mind that memories live in your heart and mind, not material possessions. Ways to overcome this challenge include incorporating the sentimental item into your everyday life. You don’t need to wait for a special occasion to use the fine china or display sentimental pieces in your home. You can also get creative and repurpose the items to fit your lifestyle more. Lastly, you can consider giving your sentimental pieces to someone else who would appreciate them more.
As always, I’d love for to hear from you and any mindset challenges you’ve had to (or have to) overcome in order to declutter successfully!
