Reducing clutter in you home is easy if you have the information that you need to know, in order to get your things organized. Most people do not even think that they have any clutter.
But what exactly is clutter?
Can you define it? Most of us would be hard pressed to define the word. But, we know it when we see it! Actually, though, the definition is easy and fairly straightforward. Clutter is any item which you own, but you don’t use or you don’t take care of.
Now, think about this. If you own and use an item, you’re probably going to take care of it — at least to some degree. But if you have some article you don’t use, you’re more likely not to take as good care of it.
For example, there’s the souvenir plate from Disney World that Auntie Vera gave you. Do you really love that plate as much as you say? Then why is it stashed up in the attic with your yearbook from high school? That souvenir plate has just passed “the clutter test.”
We find reasons — or sometimes we create — reasons why we just can’t start the decluttering process today. And even if we do start the process, we find many more excuses for not throwing items away.
Trust me, on my quest to make our personal spaces less crowded with items we neither need nor use, I think I’ve heard just about every excuse for not throwing individual objects in the trash. From wanting to sell them at a yard sale to donating them to a place that can sell them.
I know how hard it truly can be to part with some material possessions. And we now know why it’s not the easiest thing in the world. It can be very overwhelming. Especially when the memories, attached to the items, are of people that are no longer with us. Believe me, I get it! I’ve been there myself.
But at the end of the day, when you look around after you’ve tried to declutter and you still see a bunch of unused “stuff”, what have you really accomplished?
Nothing more and nothing less than merely going through the motions. Now you can tell everyone “I’ve tried.” Well, perhaps you assessed the situation and determined that it was hopeless. Or you surveyed a room or two only to find it a little too emotionally draining.
But as long as you’re carrying around even one of these excuses, you really haven’t “tried” at all. You’ve just successfully — for another day — avoided the entire process.
Hopefully you will use the tips and tricks (provided in my other articles and eBook) that have helped me through this process and begin to finally reduce all of the clutter that you have been accumulating in your home.