Decluttering

How do you look at your things? Are they valuable to you? Are they clutter to you? Do you wonder where all those things came from?

Most of the time clutter accumulates without us paying much attention to it. Then one day we look around and feel overwhelmed. Our things have taken over our homes! Now we start beating ourselves up wondering how we let this happen.

One reason is because we were too nice to our things. Yes, I said too nice. We have let these things take up residence in our homes even though many don’t deserve to be there. They are freeloaders!

Webster’s definition for freeloader is:  a person who habitually imposes on others for free food, lodging, etc.

If we look at our things from this angle how many of them could be considered freeloaders? They are living in your home for free if they don’t serve any purpose to make your life better.

To determine if something has earned the right to live in your home ask yourself these questions.

• Does the item serve a practical function?
• Does the item make you smile?
• Does the item bring up good memories?
• Does the item pamper you?
• Does the item make a family member happy therefore making you happy?

Something may be a freeloader because:

• You feel obligated to keep it because someone gave it to you. It doesn’t matter that you hate it or it doesn’t go with anything in your home.
• It belongs to someone else but you feel too guilty to get rid of it or insist the owner take it back.
• You bought something but realize it was a mistake. It’s too late to return it so you feel too guilty to get rid of it and waste all that money.
• You don’t want to contribute to the landfill so you plan to recycle it. You just haven’t gotten around to finding a place to take it.
• It no longer fits but it’s too good to get rid of. Maybe you’ll lose the weight someday.

There are all kinds of excuses that allows us to let the freeloaders take up residence in our homes. Don’t buy into those excuses. Kick those freeloaders to the curb!

Janice

Day after day you have good intentions on getting organized and clearing out the clutter. But by the end of the week do you wonder why nothing was done? Do you even remember what you did each day? If not it could be because you are on autopilot.

Autopilot may work great for airplanes but it’s not always so good for people. When an emergency happens we sometimes go into autopilot mode to handle the matter without falling apart. But to just get through each hectic day by being on autopilot doesn’t get us where we want to go.

Time to turn off autopilot! Here are three words to add to your vocabulary to help get off autopilot and take charge of your life. These are proactive, consciously, and intentionally.

Proactive: Taking the initiative. Action of taking the first step.

When we are proactive we take steps to prevent clutter from coming into our homes. This could be by reducing the junk mail we receive. It could mean not “shopping till we drop” just because we are feeling down. It could also mean setting up a system to keep our bills and other paperwork organized and not left in piles to “take care of later”.

Consciously: Knowing what one is doing and why they are doing it.

When we are aware of what we are doing we can make better choices to move towards our goals. You go to the grocery store with a list so you only buy the things you need and not a lot of things you don’t need. It also means you shop for clothes knowing how they will work in your wardrobe. You don’t buy something “just because” you like it at that moment.

Instead of going through the day haphazardly you consciously plan it out and prioritize the things you want to accomplish. You learn to limit the time wasters like phone calls with friends and the too much time on the internet by setting a timer. After your time limit is up get back to what you were working on.

Intentionally: Doing things on purpose.

Intentionally is putting proactive and consciously together. You intentionally take actions to prevent clutter and disorganization from building up in your home. You intentionally pay attention to the routines and everyday things you do so that they are in line with your goal to get and stay organized. You clear out the clutter on purpose so you can live in a more comfortable and less stressful environment.

Make these words part of your everyday language and get off autopilot. You will accomplish more each day and by the end of the week you won’t be asking yourself what you did all week. All you have to do is look around and see your accomplishments.

Janice