Bring Joy Into Your Life By Decluttering

declutter

Try this today

• Don’t let choices of what to do with the things you are ready to part with paralyze you. We’re encouraged to recycle and reuse, but getting things to those places can be time-consuming. Look for one school, church or recycling center that will take lots of things. Many neighborhoods have social networks such as Nextdoor or the Freecycle Network where you can post information about things you want to give away. Your junk could very well be someone else’s treasure — providing a new couple, a new graduate or new parents that spark of joy.
• Enlist help if needed. Let each family member pick an area they know best.
• If you’ve set aside a whole day, break for an easy lunch or snack, but stay in the house — if you go out to eat you’ll lose momentum. If you’ve set aside an hour, don’t let yourself be distracted during that time. Consider keeping your phone in another room.
• Skip the sentimental items for now; you’ll get bogged down by memories. Set them aside and deal with them on a “Memory Day.” When that day comes, be judicious. Pick a few key pieces and let go of the rest. Mom’s wedding china may be beautiful, but it’s not doing anything for anyone carefully wrapped in a box in the basement.
• Prepare for Memory Day. Sentimental items can be hardest to part with. Kondo recommends going through all your old photographs, holding them one by one and deciding if they spark joy. Throw away the ones that don’t. Consider sending old photos to be digitized so you can share and enjoy them with family and friends.
• Start by discarding. Be ruthless. If you don’t use it, remove it.
• Turn on all the lights and take a picture of your space. Look at it on a large screen. At first glance, you’ll see the messy spots.    
  
• Give yourself time to work. Block “Declutter Days!” on your calendar. If you can't fit in a day, book an hour or two a week. Make it an event. If you just pick at the mess each day, you’ll never get there.

Why

Scientists have discovered that visual clutter takes up mental space — every item in sight is another distraction. The messier your environment, the harder it may be to focus, relax, remember or problem-solve. Clearing out piles of old papers, stuffed closets and sloppy surroundings will free up mental space. Plus, orderly environments are more efficient.

 

Why is getting rid of things so hard? Many of us hold on to extra stuff based on hope — hope that we will finally lose weight and fit into old clothes, that we will finish that project that we started a year ago, that our children will one day want their grandmother’s wedding china. Getting rid of the things attached to those hopes can feel equivalent to failure. Instead, think of it as a fresh start.

 

"Anxiety arises from not being able to see the whole picture,” writes Marie Kondo, author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and star of a new hit Netflix series. You may want to watch a couple of episodes for inspiration before you get started. She advises that if an item doesn’t spark joy, get rid of it.