Part I of Organizing Life—Clutter

The more disorganized life is the more stress you feel. I’m not sure if that’s a universal truth but it sure is true for me. Clutter, not knowing where things are, mixing junk with important papers, having multiple copies of files on the computer, or a closet full of clothes that you don’t wear. It all just leads to chaos, confusion, and anxiety!

Over the past few years I’ve downsized my life drastically which has really eliminated the clutter problem. In 2006 I moved to South America. Before I left the USA I got rid of everything here except my car. When I left South America and came back to Seattle I put the few things I like into storage and gave away or sold the rest. Being free of possessions is really liberating. Our culture teaches us to shop ’til we drop so we end up with our homes full of things that are unnecessary and many things we just never use.

The “How To” part of reducing your possessions is pretty straight forward and has been written about over and over again.

1. Throw out the junk, the things that are broken and irreparable and the things that would have no use for somebody else. 
2. Log onto Craig’s List and sell whatever you don’t use that has value. It’s amazingly simple to do and very effective. The items I sold there never lasted more than four or five days.
3. Give things to family and friends, though, if they’re like you they probably have too much clutter already!
4. Donate to charities. There are many charities secular and non-secular that run thrift shops to sell donate items to finance their charity work. There are also groups that can put the items to good use. When I moved from a large house to a smaller apartment I found a charity that helps homeless families get reestablished. The charity keeps all donated articles in a warehouse and allows the family to come in and pick out things they need after they’ve found a place to live.
5. Still have things that you want to get rid of but are still useable? Try Freecycle. Give things away for free. Let somebody else use your stuff instead of letting it sit in the basement or rot in a garbage dump.

While you’re going through your things, if you come across stuff that you want to hold onto “just in case” try this. Put those things in a box. Write today’s date on the box and give it an expiration date. Something like six months. If after that time passes you haven’t needed anything from that box commit yourself to give it away! 

Now that you’ve made some room in your environment doesn’t if feel great? It really does. It’s almost like every little thing you own requires some of your energy to keep it in your life. It truly is amazing the sense of liberation you experience when you’re left with nothing but useful items. Plus it’s a lot easier to keep your home clean and it’s a big step in getting ready to organize the things you need to keep.

The key now is to not build up your clutter all over again. If people give you gifts for the holidays or your birthday suggest that they give you a gift card, a basket of fruit and cheese, or a nice bottle of wine. Something that you won’t feel obligated to keep for the rest of your life.

Good luck! Let us know how you do tackling your clutter. Also, share any pointers you may have.