When I first stumbled across the concept of minimalism, life simplification or however you personally define it, the first thing I started doing was decluttering. Decluttering physical stuff. I believe this is where most people start.
For me, the journey of life simplification is so much more than just throwing a few things out, particularly as momentum builds, but initially that was what it was all about. If I need a feel-good fix decluttering still hits the spot.
2 years and counting and I am still battling the clutter. Some weeks are good, some not so good and there are setbacks. Take your eye off the ball and it is as if stuff starts breeding. Things appear from nowhere (aka – well-intentioned family! to name one culprit).
You wake one day to find
But what I have learnt is rather than turning a blind eye, tip the entire contents onto a flat clear surface and start sifting through.
Then PEEP (place for everything and everything in its place) – put everything that has a home in it, find a home for anything that is absolutely essential and chuck the rest.
10 minutes later and…
What a beautiful sight!
Just take it a drawer at a time, it’s what you do every day that will make the difference, little steps… there’s no miracle cure to clutter, as there is no miracle diet, keep going and the reward is there.
Is your perseverance paying off?
I’m still tackling the initial clutter purge — some weeks are more productive than others. I’ve found that I’m great at not allowing new clutter to enter the home right now, but it’s been difficult to find the time to clear out the rest of the current clutter.
Part of the problem is that we’re waiting for our neighborhood garage sale to role around, so I’m storing a bunch of crap we don’t want for that. Once it’s over — everything else gets donated or trashed. It’s going to be a clutter clearing frenzy. 🙂
It is so time consuming getting through it all, however I can definitely see light at the end of the tunnel… it really is sticking at it! As with much in life eh?
A garage sale – I’ve always wondered how they worked? In the UK we do car-boot’s where we head off to a large field and all pitch up. They are a few near to me so I don’t have to travel too far.
Good luck with the sale, I’m going to start eBaying soon, it’s got to be done!
I’m still tackling the initial clutter purge — some weeks are more productive than others. I’ve found that I’m great at not allowing new clutter to enter the home right now, but it’s been difficult to find the time to clear out the rest of the current clutter.
Part of the problem is that we’re waiting for our neighborhood garage sale to role around, so I’m storing a bunch of crap we don’t want for that. Once it’s over — everything else gets donated or trashed. It’s going to be a clutter clearing frenzy. 🙂
It is so time consuming getting through it all, however I can definitely see light at the end of the tunnel… it really is sticking at it! As with much in life eh?
A garage sale – I’ve always wondered how they worked? In the UK we do car-boot’s where we head off to a large field and all pitch up. They are a few near to me so I don’t have to travel too far.
Good luck with the sale, I’m going to start eBaying soon, it’s got to be done!
I’m still tackling the initial clutter purge — some weeks are more productive than others. I’ve found that I’m great at not allowing new clutter to enter the home right now, but it’s been difficult to find the time to clear out the rest of the current clutter.
Part of the problem is that we’re waiting for our neighborhood garage sale to role around, so I’m storing a bunch of crap we don’t want for that. Once it’s over — everything else gets donated or trashed. It’s going to be a clutter clearing frenzy. 🙂
It is so time consuming getting through it all, however I can definitely see light at the end of the tunnel… it really is sticking at it! As with much in life eh?
A garage sale – I’ve always wondered how they worked? In the UK we do car-boot’s where we head off to a large field and all pitch up. They are a few near to me so I don’t have to travel too far.
Good luck with the sale, I’m going to start eBaying soon, it’s got to be done!
That’s my Mum’s favourite saying, A place for everything, and everything in it’s place. Funny thing is i say it to my kids at least twice a day, and i feel i am turning into my Mum, now don’t get me wrong i love my mum, dearly, but she spent all my childhood putting everything in it’s place. I want to own so few possesions that everything will just gravitate to it’s place iyswim, i know , a dream…… I digress, we are in a happy place with ‘stuff’ at the minute, the only problem is the carp the kids come home with, so i totally sympathise with your clutter drawer!! What i found helped me was getting rid of drawers altogether. When our kitchen was refurbished, no drawer units were installed. As i pared down our possesions, chest of drawers were sent to the charity furniture shop. I store all clothes on shelves and have a basket for each childs socks. This would then leave the stuff that gravitates to the clutter drawer on kitchen worktops etc where it would be dealt with immediatly.
Sharron x
Sharron some sound advice there! We moved to a larger house just before I had my second child and it has a lot more storage – which is what I thought I needed at the time. Actually what I needed to do was get rid of some stuff. A very good friend of mine and a born minimalist has a saying – “Don’t Store – Chuck!” – pretty much what you are doing…
I’d love my kitchen refurbished, there are lots of nooks and crannies and as I spend soooo much time in there, it needs cleaning properly frequently. I need to get a little tougher with the kids without spoiling their fun. We are getting to the ages where the toys are getting smaller but with more parts… and they are everywhere!
That’s my Mum’s favourite saying, A place for everything, and everything in it’s place. Funny thing is i say it to my kids at least twice a day, and i feel i am turning into my Mum, now don’t get me wrong i love my mum, dearly, but she spent all my childhood putting everything in it’s place. I want to own so few possesions that everything will just gravitate to it’s place iyswim, i know , a dream…… I digress, we are in a happy place with ‘stuff’ at the minute, the only problem is the carp the kids come home with, so i totally sympathise with your clutter drawer!! What i found helped me was getting rid of drawers altogether. When our kitchen was refurbished, no drawer units were installed. As i pared down our possesions, chest of drawers were sent to the charity furniture shop. I store all clothes on shelves and have a basket for each childs socks. This would then leave the stuff that gravitates to the clutter drawer on kitchen worktops etc where it would be dealt with immediatly.
Sharron x
Sharron some sound advice there! We moved to a larger house just before I had my second child and it has a lot more storage – which is what I thought I needed at the time. Actually what I needed to do was get rid of some stuff. A very good friend of mine and a born minimalist has a saying – “Don’t Store – Chuck!” – pretty much what you are doing…
I’d love my kitchen refurbished, there are lots of nooks and crannies and as I spend soooo much time in there, it needs cleaning properly frequently. I need to get a little tougher with the kids without spoiling their fun. We are getting to the ages where the toys are getting smaller but with more parts… and they are everywhere!
That’s my Mum’s favourite saying, A place for everything, and everything in it’s place. Funny thing is i say it to my kids at least twice a day, and i feel i am turning into my Mum, now don’t get me wrong i love my mum, dearly, but she spent all my childhood putting everything in it’s place. I want to own so few possesions that everything will just gravitate to it’s place iyswim, i know , a dream…… I digress, we are in a happy place with ‘stuff’ at the minute, the only problem is the carp the kids come home with, so i totally sympathise with your clutter drawer!! What i found helped me was getting rid of drawers altogether. When our kitchen was refurbished, no drawer units were installed. As i pared down our possesions, chest of drawers were sent to the charity furniture shop. I store all clothes on shelves and have a basket for each childs socks. This would then leave the stuff that gravitates to the clutter drawer on kitchen worktops etc where it would be dealt with immediatly.
Sharron x
Sharron some sound advice there! We moved to a larger house just before I had my second child and it has a lot more storage – which is what I thought I needed at the time. Actually what I needed to do was get rid of some stuff. A very good friend of mine and a born minimalist has a saying – “Don’t Store – Chuck!” – pretty much what you are doing…
I’d love my kitchen refurbished, there are lots of nooks and crannies and as I spend soooo much time in there, it needs cleaning properly frequently. I need to get a little tougher with the kids without spoiling their fun. We are getting to the ages where the toys are getting smaller but with more parts… and they are everywhere!