Day 12 of 20 - Autumnal Equinox Series: DECLUTTER

 October 20, 2020

When access to the outdoors becomes increasingly limited with the changing weather, spending more time indoors gives ample opportunity to make your living space more pleasant to be in. Since you’ll be spending lots of time in there, why not make it more peaceful and pretty? 

Clutter creates anxiety because the more stuff we have, the more we feel we need to do. It also makes it harder to find what you’re looking for. Getting rid of the things we aren’t using and don’t need is a great way to free up space, AND to free your mind. Here are some of the main reasons most of us hold onto more than we need:

• “I might need it at some point in the future.”
• “I had plans to do something with it eventually.”
• “Someone I love gave it to me.”
• “It’s part of my childhood memories.”
• “I might wear it again someday.”
• “It belonged to my deceased relative.”

• Chances are you won’t use it again- especially if you haven’t already;
• Your intentions are honorable but relieve yourself of the obligation to do something with it;
• The person you love will still love you if you got rid of the thing;
• Your childhood memorabilia will continue to take up space in an unopened box and your kids will be left to deal with it someday;
• You’ll probably never wear it again; and
• Your deceased relative couldn’t take it with them, either.
• Believe me- in most cases, it’s worth more to you OUT of your house than in it.

I admit I’m one of those people that is very sentimental about certain things- greeting cards, for example. I’ve kept greeting cards for years to remind me of the people that sent loving wishes to me for different occasions. I also have a box full of notes folded in the shape of stars that we used to pass around in grade school (yeah, I’m old). Notebooks that I never looked back on like I thought I would. I’m planning a ceremonious fire to give them all the honorable send-off they deserve after holding onto them all these years and umpteen moves- including cross country twice (I don’t recommend burning anything if you live in a high-risk fire zone). Having reached a point in my life where I really believe that less is so much more in many different ways, I’ve started letting go of a LOT of things that are just taking up space and not giving me joy. Pretty sure I got that idea from Marie Kondo, the decluttering queen. Thanks, Marie!

Take one room at a time, and have a box ready to put the things in there that you’re not using and that don’t make you happy. You can go through the box afterward to decide which things you want to sell, donate, or if someone you know would want them. There’s a chance you already have boxes of stuff in your basement that you haven’t looked at in years that you’d never even miss.

Another fun way to make a space more pleasant is to rearrange your furniture, and/or paint a room. It’s amazing how it can completely change the look and feel of a room, give new energy flow to the space, and lift your spirits! Clean out your closets, basement, file cabinets; paint that room for a fresh new look; reorganize your pantry; rearrange the kitchen cupboards to spice things up and mess with your family. Just kidding, but actually it IS good exercise for your brain to change things around like that!

It’s so satisfying when you can see and feel the difference in a space, and the sense of accomplishment you get from it is amazing. It’ll feel like a whole new place, and a whole new you!