Good Riddance
Lighten your life by decluttering your home
It might happen to you. On a seemingly ordinary day, you suddenly look around and think:
“My house is exploding with stuff!”
“The walls are closing in!”
You suddenly see all your excess stuff for what it is: a gathering army of junk poised to bury you.
You might feel like turning your house over to empty it of all the stuff that is suffocating you.
Or It might happen like this…
You are looking around for an important document, or maybe a favorite recipe, and it seems to have vanished. You look and look, search here there and everywhere with no success. During your search you notice all the piles of papers, books, magazines scattered around the house with no real pattern.
You realize right then and there that it has to stop.
You must get rid of all the excess stuff. It’s time to rent that dumpster and fill it!
You need to know how to minimize!
In this post you will learn all about excess stuff and how to make wonderful space in your home.
You will learn the seven steps that will liberate your house; you will feel liberated as well!
The seven steps are not difficult or boring.
You can think of the process as an adventurous expedition with a great result!
Find out how to minimize!
Let’s get started!
Table of Contents
Know This
There is a way to gain heavenly space and a sense of calm in your home
PART 1 – Your Stuff
Start learning how to minimize by thinking.
Think about the different kinds of stuff you keep around (in your living spaces and your storage areas).
Know Your Stuff – 9 Categories
1. Useful Stuff
OK, you will keep any thing that is truly useful to you – essential things you actually use frequently.
2. Beautiful Stuff
These are things you love for their aesthetic pleasure. For example, a beautiful piece of sculpture or a music CD that gives you joy.
3. Might-Need-Later Stuff
These are things that you kind of want to get rid of, but you have a feeling at the back of your mind that they could come in handy someday.
4. Emotional Stuff
These are the nolstalgic mementos and souvenirs that remind you of people you love or wonderful experiences. Some may overlap with beautiful things that you own. Depending on your sentimentalism, you may have many of these items.
5. Duplicates
You might have a few duplicates. Maybe you received duplicate gifts. My daughter and my sister once gave me the same novel for my birthday.
Or, what often happens at my house is this: we ‘lose’ a tool or a gadget and instead of turning the house upside down and spending time searching, we just go out and buy another one.
Of course the ‘lost’ item magically returns eventually and we end up with two wonderful tools!
This is another reason to tidy up, pare down, and organize – no more lost items!
6. Outlived-its-Usefulness Stuff
Items that are no longer useful to you, even though they are in good condition. Maybe you no longer use your quickie burger grill gadget because you gave up red meat?
Or maybe you do eat burgers, but the grill gadget is so difficult to clean that it is no longer useful to you. That’s what happened to me! That tool is long gone.
7. Unused Gifts
This category, of course, can overlap with the duplicate category.
And sometimes a gift just doesn’t click for one reason or another.
This can be tricky because the giver could ask about the gift at any time. Use your best judgement, but if you’ve had a gift for a few years and your giver hasn’t mentioned it, it is probably safe to move it out of your life.
8. Broken Items
Well, this should be a no-brainer, but I know people who do hang on to broken things, thinking they will have them repaired ‘sometime soon’.
If the repair was important it would have taken place already! This is usually a case of ‘putting off making a decision’.
9. Just Junk That Should Have Been Tossed Long Ago
OK, this is just pure laziness, but something I have been guilty of. I chalk it up to ‘having no time’ but maybe I need to manage my time a little better!
So these are the nine types of stuff. Do they ring a bell in your house?
Wise Words
You can’t reach for anything new if your hands are still full of yesterday’s junk”
What Your Stuff is Doing
Your stuff is doing things that you may not realize.
• Stuff Causes Stress
First you stress about NOT having stuff. Then you stress about how to get the money for it. Once you are able to buy it, you then stress about putting it together, learning how it works, maintaining it and repairing it when it breaks. You also might stress about getting the right accessories for it. Then there is the stress of the debt you may incur. Even a small simple item will eventually cause you stress. It’s just the nature of stuff. Yes, of course we all need some basic things, but maybe not as many as we think.
• Stuff pulls your emotional heartstrings.
Much of your stuff has emotional ‘strings’ tied to it. This makes it hard to part with.
How many those unused gifts do you have lying around? Gifts can cause feelings of obligation, and you will feel guilty giving them away or trashing them, right?
Some stuff is aspirational; that is, it holds a promise of some accomplishment you thought you might realize in the future.
Those paintbrushes in the cabinet? Uncle Bob’s golf clubs just waiting for you to take up golf someday? We all have this kind of stuff waiting around the house. If you haven’t used these things in a few years, chances are that you never will.
Then again, some stuff reminds us of our past accomplishments, like the softball trophy, or the A+ term paper, or the art class ‘masterpieces’ . Don’t let these things get moldy. Display them proudly in your home if you can.
But too many ‘trophies’ might look odd, so think about getting rid of some of these relics — after you take photos of them, of course! You might feel that you are getting rid of a part of your self, but you are not exactly the same person you were then.
Make some room for the new you. People change and grow, and it’s normal and good.
• Stuff Thwarts Your Personal Freedom
How do you feel when you enter a cluttered room?
How do you feel when you enter a sleek uncluttered room?
What is the difference in your mental outlook? Do you feel a certain freedom in the uncluttered room? Do you get some positive energy?
Owning and getting fewer things not only gives you mental freedom, you will also gain:
More time to use for friends and family, or a new personal rewarding activity.
More money saved to use wisely on a focused goal.
• Stuff Fills Valuable Space
Over time, you tend to want to fill up your spaces. But space has a value all its own.
Why is space important? Why don’t you just fill up every cubic inch of space in your home? Well, you would have no place to move! But more importantly, your brain would not like it.
Have you every stepped into a children’s schoolroom that is highly decorated with all sorts of learning materials? The room is so visually busy that it limits the space in the child’s brain, space needed to process the main learning points of the day.
The important things in your home need to be framed with space so that you can focus properly. The focus should be on:
People
Essentials
Beauty
Objects that Reflect You and the Ones You Live With
PART 2 – Your Relationship with Your Stuff
Why You Have It
Before you tackle your house full of stuff, it’s a good idea to do some introspection about how you got to this sorry state to begin with, why stuff is a dilemma for you, why you cling to your stuff, and why you don’t manage it.
You need to know how to minimize properly; otherwise you will declutter only to have to do it again and again!
With this new understanding in your mind, you will be amazingly well-equipped to tackle your purging project, and it will go much more smoothly – and it will stick.
So how did you end up with so much stuff? Accumulation sneaks up on you. As I mentioned before, you buy, you inherit, you receive gifts. That’s basically how it gets into your house.
Then you have to put the stuff somewhere. Some of it lives in your living spaces in cabinets, bookshelves, closets, on floors, in baskets. You try to keep your living areas as tidy as possible, so all the rest is stuffed into empty rooms, attics, basements and garages.
Note This
The real reason you have so much stuff is that you cling to it!
Why You Cling to It
There are 3 Reasons
1. Not Enough Time
Lets talk about the time issue first. OK, we’ve been putting off our purging project, thinking we just don’t have the time – it’s such a massive project.
But wait a gosh darn minute! Your stuff has actually been eating away at your time all these years without your realizing it!
Stuff actually keeps you busy. Much of your time is spent dealing with ‘things’ . Every item that you own has to be put somewhere. You either keep it out for frequent use, or you must store it.
Many of your items have to be kept clean, or at least dusted.
You have to change the batteries, or add fuel, or repair, or take it out for repair.
Consider the categories of products that you keep in your house or apartment:
• Furniture
• Food prep products
• Clothes, handbags, jewelry
• Shoes
• Automobiles
• Grooming and beauty supplies
• Sports equipment
• Patio furniture
• Hobby supplies
• Landscape tools & supplies
• Gardening tools & supplies
• Books & magazines
• Stationery supplies
• Entertainment products
• Trees, shrubs, plants
Within each category, most of us have several or many items.
Now think about the time you spend
• Organizing
• Storing
• Maintaining
• Repairing
• Cleaning
• Discarding
• Buying replacements
Maybe you take these activities for granted, but when you stop to think about it, we really do spend much of our lives taking care of our stuff. Maybe it’s time to simplify.
Moving Stuff Around and Around Wastes Time
Have you ever tidied up your closet just so you can add more clothes or shoes? You may throw a few things out in the process but only just enough to kind of make it work for the time being.
Even the junk in the garage or attic takes time. You search through the stuff for something that might actually be useful. You take an hour or two to straighten up so that you can cram some more stuff in.
As you see, it can be a never-ending cycle. But take a look at the big picture. You have too much stuff and perhaps a lifestyle change is in order. In the end you will save a lot of precious time.
2. You are Emotionally Tied to Your Stuff
You may have to deal with your relationship to your stuff:
As I said before, stuff is emotional. Does your excess stuff truly make you happy? Will you be more happy keeping or clearing?
Does nostalgia keep you from letting go of your relics?
Ask Yourself
Do you really think you will use the dusty hobby supplies, sporting equipment, clothes or gadgets that have hung around unused? Really?
3. You are a Procrastinator
The above emotional issues are part of the reason that you may find it so easy to put off the job.
A second reason is that you see it as dull, mundane work. It’s what you make it. This can be a fun enjoyable project if you do it right.
Or you see it as a mountainous job that you need a week or so to accomplish.
Consider that you can break down the project into shorter, do-able pieces.
But why don’t you get rid of things more regularly like once a month so it doesn’t mount up? Again, it’s seems just easier to put it off till you can know what to do with it. You are a busy person and you just have not prioritized this task. Believe me I’ve been right there with you.
So why do you cling to your stuff? Any of the above? Or all three?
What to do?
Now is the time to actually declutter your house.
You can do it!
Following is the step by step plan. Yay!
PART 3 – Decluttering Step By Step
Following are the steps to minimize your house, in a nutshell. I will explain each step in the next section.
Wise Words
Get rid of clutter and you may just find it was blocking the door you’ve been looking for.
Preparation for Decluttering Steps
Decluttering is Personal
Think about your categories of stuff. How much could you cut down within each group so that you can tidily store what is left? 25, 50, 75, or 80%?
These are very personal decisions so take some time to thrash it out.
Here is some food for thought:
Some stuff is easy to throw out. You don’t want it anymore, it is outdated, and out it goes. Poof! That felt good!
Other stuff, as we have discussed, is trickier.
You can take photos or videos of much of your emotional stuff; this way you will save them for posterity. Use them to write your personal or family autobiography; transfer old photos, movies, slides to a CD; make a movie of your life so far; make a beautiful scrapbook of family treasures; start compiling your family tree and embellish with pictures of people and memorable items.
You may have some things you use occasionally that you could live without in the interest of simplifying and creating space.
Learn to break down the project to manageable segments.
Make preplanned dates with yourself and family members to do the home-purging project and find creative ways to make them fun events.
Be prepared for some squabbles with your family members, and maybe some push-back. If you cannot agree on something, set the problem aside for the next session. You may find that time will be the best peacemaker.
.
Step 1 – Consider Your Areas
Consider the areas of your house to de-clutter. Consider two basic areas.
Area #1 is your living area – those rooms that you use every day.
Living areas include:
• Kitchen
• Bedrooms
• Mudroom
• Family room
• Living Room
• Dining Room or Area
• Bathrooms
• Laundry Room
• Junk drawer(s)
Area #2 is your storage area
Storage areas include:
• Garage
• Basement
• Attic
• Other storage rooms
• Offsite rented storage compartments
Decide which area you will start with, area 1 or area 2.
Step 2 – Compile Your Sorting Kit
Sorting kit:
• Boxes for sorting & Sticky Notes
• List of questions
• Permanent ink marker and pens
• Music
• Positive outlook
For your sorting kit, find or purchase some boxes You may need several boxes for each category. (The categories are listed in Step 3). If an item is too large for the box, label it with a sticky note or use your preferred labeling method.
Your list of questions is as follows:
1. What does it do for me?
2. Where did it come from?
3. Is it still useful?
4. Do I have a duplicate?
5. Is it easy to use?
6. Is it easy to clean?
7. Is it easy to maintain?
8. Is it easy to store?
9. How often is it used?
10. Is it really necessary?
11. Does it give lots of aesthetic pleasure?
12. Do I have strong emotional ties to it?
13. Do I want to sell it?
14. Do I want to keep it?
15. Do I want to trash it?
16. Do I want to photograph it and then remove it?
17. Do I want to donate it?
You will want to ask yourself these questions for each item. For some items you will know right away what to do. Other items may take longer to evaluate.
This question process will get easier and faster as your brain gets used to considering each piece of stuff.
Step 3 – Label Your Sorting Boxes
You will be dividing your stuff into five categories:
1. Chuck (trash, garbage)
2. Charity (things to give to friends, family, or charity organizations)
3. Cha-Ching (those items you would like to sell)
4. Cherish (things you keep, love, and will use)
5. Chill & Choose (things you will first archive via photography or video and then choose what to do with them using categories 1-4)
Step 4 – Pick a Starting Date
Get out your calendar and decide the day you will start…… Designate the days, weekends, or weeks that you will devote to each area. Block out these time periods in your calendar…… Don’t worry – you are not chained to this schedule, but it will be motivating to have a plan.
If you Plan to Sell Stuff
To Tag Sale or not to Tag Sale (say that 3 times fast). That could be a big question that demands an answer.
Think about whether you would benefit from a tag sale to sell some of your items. If you are pretty sure or definitely sure you will plan the sale then label your tag sale items with a sticky note or move them to your tag sale collecting area.
Step 5 Sort and Declutter
Now that you have done the necessary prep work, dive in and sort, one thing at time. Again it will get easier as you go.
As you sort move the items from your sorting boxes to their appropriate destination:
Dumpster
Garbage Cans
Charity Sites
Friends & Family
Temporary Tag Sale area (perhaps in your garage)
In other words, don’t make a mess while you are decluttering – keep things moving out of your house. Creating more chaos will only discourage you. Be deliberate and take your time. Before long you will be enjoying new space and new serenity!
Sorting Area 1 – Living Areas. Sorting these rooms should be fairly easy. Hopefully most of the items here are things you use every day. Of course, you now can take the opportunity to clear out the excess clutter that you don’t need. Certain areas are usually ripe for de-cluttering. I’m thinking of:
• Closets
• Bookshelves
• Junk drawer
• Other drawers
• Kitchen cabinets
• Office files
Remember, every time you de-clutter a room, you will feel great – and motivated to keep going.
You may or may not need a ‘Cherish’ box for Area 1. If you really love an item and/or it is really useful and not hard to maintain, just leave it alone or move it to the best place in your home.
Sorting Area 2 – Storage Areas. This is where you have stored unused items for years. Once in a while you may have ventured into the rubble to fish out an item but generally the stacks are sitting neglected and undisturbed.
Are you ready for your archeological dig?
Step 6 Finding Buried Treasure
Beware, you will find buried treasure and artifacts from your past life and lives of your family.
The place where most people have trouble with decluttering is learning how to deal with all those emotional items.
These treasures may include:
Wedding favors
Kids’ artwork
Kids’ gifts
Kids’ awards
Your awards
Ticket stubs and playbills
Hobby items
Travel souvenirs
Grandma’s china
Grandpa’s fishing pole
You name it……
Stop and Consider
When you start going through your long-buried items, you could “fall back in love’ with some of them, as if noticing them for the first time! This is when you should hold off making a decision for a bit.
Put these treasures in your Chill & Cherish box temporarily and re-visit them later.
It will be easier if you sleep on it and then decide.
You will find it hard to part with some of these emotional items and only you can decide what to do with them, but here are some suggestions:
Photo Shoot
Some artifacts are difficult to part with. For example, how about those special items made by the children in your life – those darling but fragile gifts lovingly crafted for you.
Designate a table or pedestal and cover it with a solid-color cloth. Make a backdrop with cardboard, oak tag, or a soft, draped fabric. Get the lighting right. Use your imagination to create an attractive way to photograph souvenirs and relics. Having a nice photograph handy will be even better than unpacking these things every 5-10 years just to reminisce.
What relics will you archive this way? That is up to you of course, but here’s what comes to my mind:
• Kids’ school projects
• Report cards
• College books and mementos
• Gifts and castoffs from relatives
• Special games, toys and sports equipment
• Old trophies
• Things you just want to remember
You can display the photos; or put them in an album. You could also have a dvd video made of all of these great shots and they will last for posterity.
Display with pride
If Grandma’s chine has a special place in your heart, find a place to display it in your home – don’t bury these pieces in a box in the attic – give them the prominence they deserve!
You could also frame children’s artwork. ( I especially like this idea) or put their special sculpture in a glass-front cabinet or a display box to showcase in your bedroom.
I actually use some of my daughter’s creations. Her pinch pot holds my paperclips on my desk at work.
Collages, Scrapbooks and Artful Displays
Yes, many of your buried treasures will have meaning for you even though you have packed them away. Some small or paper items can be made into a collage or a series of collages. Or you can compile a scrapbook! If you are not handy in this way, ask an artistic friend to help you.
Three-dimensional objects can be used to create a display assemblage. There is a great book that I like that will inspire you, Crafting Personal Shrines: Using Photos, Mementos & Treasures to Create Artful Displays by Carol Owen.
Before giving or throwing away any family history mementos, explore ideas to consolidate and showcase.
Use your artifacts to write your personal or family autobiography; transfer old photos, movies, slides to a CD; make a movie of your life so far; make a beautiful scrapbook of family treasures; start compiling your family tree and embellish with pictures of people and memorable items.
Rotate
Displays and photography can work for many of your emotional items but you may not be able to display each and every one at once. You could rotate them in and out of display each season. The problem is: how many can you keep in storage? Remember, you are trying to make more space.
So next, decide if you will keep or discard some of these memorabilia. For the children’s creations, ask your artist if they would like to have them, or if they can be discarded.
Give
Another wonderful option is to give some of your family heirlooms to special friends and family members, people you know who will appreciate them and have space to give them a home.
Step 7 Love Your New Space
Now you know how to minimize, and you see that decluttering is not all bad. Yes, it is work, but the kind of work that feels good, and also lets you become creative.
Being creative is always good for the soul! Just remember not to let yourself get overwhelmed. Pace yourself and don’t let the occasional mess discourage you.
Keep moving your unwanted stuff out of your home, and you will have a minimized home to love and enjoy!
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