Creating space
What would it feel like if….
…you woke up one day and your home only had what you needed and what truly brought you joy?
…everything was easy to find so you didn’t have to spend forever looking for things?
…you could create a more calm and tranquil space to live in?
Just take a few moments to imagine what that would feel like.
It is amazing when you think about how much time, energy and money is needed to take care of the stuff we own. From one perspective, possessions can be practical and useful, and can bring pleasure and joy, but on the other hand they can create stress e.g. when you have too many possessions and not enough space for them or they need constant attention and ongoing maintenance. I can tell you this from personal experience after spending the last six years systematically decluttering my life! I won’t take you through my entire decluttering experience now. I’ll leave that for another time. However, suffice to say that it is not a one-off process (although if only it was!), it can be time consuming, especially initially, and needs to be done regularly as it does not take long for clutter to build up again. I have already made considerable efforts to rid myself of the stuff that is superfluous to my life and doesn’t hold enough value to keep. I realise that unnecessary clutter not only takes up physical space, but also valuable mental space. For me it’s harder to think straight when there is so much clutter on display! Also isn’t there something quite cathartic about getting rid of stuff you no longer need or is useful?
Time for a sort out….again
My partner and I, at the start of the year, put some of our stuff in storage during a temporary location and only wanted to take what we needed for that time. We felt that this would be a useful test to see if we could get rid of more items once we returned i.e. the items we felt we no longer needed.
So fast forward a few months and we were back at the storage unit. I was reluctant to fill up all the cupboards to bursting point again, especially considering that I had forgotten about many of these items whilst they were in storage for a number of months.
You would think that after years of decluttering, it would get easier and it does in the sense that you are familiar with what needs to be done and have developed your own systematic process. However, often you have tougher decisions to make as you are left with many items that either you can’t bear to part with or have been in your “undecided” pile for so long. In our home, we are limited in space and it doesn’t take long for the place to look cluttered. We often joke that it only takes about five minutes to look like the place has been ransacked. However, the trade-off is, when it doesn’t take long to get messy, it doesn’t take long to tidy up.
Order out of chaos…
There is something quite satisfying in creating order out of chaos don’t you think? I can tell you that creating chaos was the easy part. We put all the stuff that we had packed away into storage back into our home, using any surface that was available. Regretfully, I didn’t take a photo at the time so you will have to use your imagination. However, it was a bit like this on a smaller scale:-
The method behind the madness here was to make the place look so chaotic that it absolutely forced us to sort through everything as quickly as possible. Well the plan worked! We couldn’t wait to get everything sorted and packed away. We took one box/bag at a time and determined what could be thrown away, recycled, donated or kept. I would suggest, during this process, to put your favourite music on to get yourself into the right energy flow and not to get distracted by your phone or television etc.
Of course, your possessions are very personal to you on account of many different hobbies and interests, varying lifestyles etc. You may have a collection of eighteenth-century thimbles or build obstacle courses for hamsters! Or you love cooking, which involves lots of kitchen equipment or enjoy gardening, and have a multitude of tools for it. For me, my passion for music has meant that I have acquired a collection, albeit a modest one, of musical instruments and sheet music. I would find it very difficult to part with any of my instruments but I had to seriously scale down my sheet music collection recently. Due to limited space, I opted to keep my favourite music books and donated the rest. In this modern age, sheet music is available online and can be downloaded when required.
Seasonal stuff
Some things that we had stored away were seasonal so now summer was upon us, I was definitely missing my summer wardrobe and our comfy recliner garden chairs. Although those chairs should come with a health warning as they are dangerously comfortable and once you sit on one, it’s difficult to get up again! These are items that are handy to store away if you have the space. The “if I haven’t used the thing in three months, get rid of it” motto, wouldn’t apply to these items. However, if you haven’t used the item for a few years or more, maybe it’s time for it to go!
Books
I had a collection of books that I intended to read some day and then donate or pass them on. However, the urge would not arise to read them and then after a few years, I still had those books. When moving, most of those books went into storage and I felt a lot lighter (in terms of a weight being lifted). One advantage was that I was relieved of the guilt of not reading them! I kept my electronic reader (e-reader) whilst we were away so I could download books online. This is a great tool for travelling and an excellent space-saving device. Once I was reunited with all my books again, I made the decision to prioritise keeping the ones most important to me and realistically evaluate which ones I would actually read in the next year! I even scaled down my collection of cookery books to a few favourites. There are so many great recipes available online now. Nevertheless, I still like the tangibility of having hard copy books so don’t plan to go fully electronic in the near future!
Random stuff
I have to say that this is my least favourite category of stuff to sort through. Odds and ends. Bits and bobs. Whatever you want to call it. Everyone has a junk drawer or box with random things that may one day be useful. There are always a few items which you cannot fathom what they are or where they belong. You know that it will be just your luck that as soon as you choose to discard the item, you will find a use for it or realise that it is the missing piece to fix something! I often see it as a little joke from the universe when this happens to me. I would advise setting a time limit for keeping these random items. Put them in a box. Write the date on that box, say three months in the future, and by that date if you haven’t found a use for the item, then it’s Sayaonara!
Sentimental items and treasured things!
This is often a challenging category for many, including myself. Sentimental items are not easily replaced, which is why we hold onto a lot of things from our past to help us remember a loved one, an achievement, a happy time or sometimes we keep them just for a bit of nostalgia. This category is very personal and really depends on how sentimental you are and how much you like to keep mementos from the past. Some people are very gung ho i.e. overly enthusiastic about letting go of these types of items and wouldn’t find this such a challenge. However, I feel the majority probably would find this more difficult.
I can sometimes have mixed feelings about nostalgia. It can conjure up good times but can also bring back painful memories. To be honest I still have a box of sentimental items which I keep coming back to. I have got rid of some of its contents over the years but there are still many items I hold onto. I plan to tackle this box again very soon and I will document my progress here. It may well involve a cosy night in with my computer scanner for many of the documents I have been hoarding from my past!
One man’s trash, is another man’s treasure
So in other words, what is agreeable to one person, may be distasteful to another. I will pass on an important piece of advice if you are ever decluttering someone else’s possessions. Always remember that what you deem useful, may be deemed useless by someone else. What you feel is ugly, will be considered beautiful by somebody else. I mention this in particular as my partner and I are sometimes at odds when deciding what to keep and what to discard with regard to each other’s stuff. I admit that sometimes it is good to have a second opinion and especially if you are a large-scale hoarder, as otherwise you may never get rid of anything! However, it is useful to be mindful that each of us hold different values and attachments to our possessions. This piece of advice may save some future arguments!
Happy decluttering!
Well I hope this insight into our recent decluttering experience was useful. Join me again for more tips on decluttering. As I said, this is a topic I will return to at a later date as it’s a big part of simplifying your life and releasing your attachment to some material things.
If you plan to give decluttering a go, I hope you enjoy your new sense of space and freedom with less possessions. If you have any questions, email me at susie@simplebalancetoday.com or please do add a comment below this blog post. I would love to hear your views and suggestions.
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