Start your clutter and chaos-free life now

I realize that I have only scratched the surface of the decluttering game. I must say more!

First, I went to a decluttering presentation in my city after my last post. It seemed appropriate and I am really fascinated with the psychology found here. I’m hooked on a simple life.

Well, I found lots of people thinking and wondering about this topic too. The room was full. People came from work for this free session in the middle of the day, middle of the week, with a desire for a clutter-free home and life. Men, women, young, and old were present and all ears.

I will give credit where credit is due: JaneAntonovich.com. How did my advice hold up against a professional? Pretty good! I agree with her completely. Organizing brings freedom in so many ways. Not just space but related to finances and health too. It has much to do with wellness.

She shared some facts that I knew but the stats help drive the point home. Storage is a 22 billion dollar industry. Storage facilities are cropping up everywhere all over the country. Are you still looking for that passive income? Someone is making big $$ off our uncontrolled and compulsive purchasing. Remember, this trend represents the overflow stuff. Yup! For every storage unit, there is a (probably large) home full of stuff. Jane said she knows clients that have multiple storage units.

I agree with her that chaos in our living spaces keep us small, crowded, and closed off. Making your dreams a reality requires spaciousness. Spaciousness in thinking and living. If your dream really consists of buying that thing, you might want to reanalyze your dreams.

My advice for getting started on a clutter and chaos free life:

• Envision what you want for your life. Take a close look at this vision and stop making excuses. Excuses are the reason you put these dreams on the shelf. Once you do this and get really good at it, abundance will come not from the things in your home but through the meaningful things in your life: relationships and experiences. True joy.
• Start small or not-so-small. You can tackle a shelf or a kitchen cabinet in 15 minutes. If you really want to FEEL into it, place an entire category on the table, bed, or floor. It’s okay to grapple with the choice of what to put back. It is emotionally exhausting. Accept that as a parting gift–it’s the energy that stuff brings into your life. Exhaustion. Too exhausted to do #1.
• Take off the lens you usually use to look at your stuff. Some of it is really not that great and you will not miss it. Throw out the broken, miss-matched, outdated, and unused junk first. Start with “low-hanging fruit”—the easy stuff. This will give you some momentum to tackle the next level.
• If you think someone else would like this item more, give that someone a chance. It may need to be thrown away but you just can’t do it yourself. Donate it! It is so easy to donate and donating feels good. If you must, thank the item, shed that tear, and move it to the box.
• If you can’t move it out, store it for a bit longer. No shame. If you reduce the stuff in one area by 10% or 20% you will find you’re on the road to clutter free. Because, if you are like me, you will not stop there. You will move on to the next space, and the next. By the time you come back to that area, you will find much more to remove. It is just the way it works.

Stop living small! Getting things in order allowed me to consider other parts of my life that were holding me back. I got my finances in order (and sold some stuff). Next week, we are traveling to Madrid. No more small living!