The Spring Cleaning season is upon us. As far as I’m concerned, MESS is a pretty word for chaos. MESS does not invade you overnight, it’s an accumulation of little pieces of clutter that gradually fill your space until it is too overwhelming to undertake.

One of my life mottos is “LIVING SIMPLY IS SIMPLY LIVING”. Accumulating things is a way of cluttering our life and our mind. In today’s society, while the amount of things we own defines our success, it does certainly not determine our happiness.

Clutter can stress, depress, and digress YOU – don’t let it!

3 Steps to Declutter

Here are the three steps we can follow to downsize, declutter, organize, and obtain cherished freedom of possessions we absurdly attach to:

Step 1: Identify what’s REALLY important to you.

Step 2: Find a place for what you are keeping.

Step 3: Discard the rest.

Sounds harsh and drastic. It is a process that requires daily discipline and the gradual establishment of simplification habits. It’s simple, but HARD… more on that later!

7 Simple Habits To Live Clutter Free

Visualize your clean, decluttered, organized space. Everything becomes easier when you create it in your mind first!

Tackle it one small step at a time. Decluttering even the smallest space is not a one-day process

Donate or Recycle – It’s a better feeling to contribute to than just throwing things away.

Calendar your “Simplicity and Decluttering” sessions. It’s easier to do it when it’s planned in advance.

Create an organization system (I am scanning all my documents, cutting out magazine articles rather than keeping the whole magazines, going digital and using binders for DVDs and CDs, and using clear storage boxes so I can see what’s in them).

Don’t buy anything until it’s been on a Want List for 30 days, AND remember the One-In, One-Out rule. This will make you a mindful buyer and a mindful keeper.

Make it a family affair. Educate your significant other, roommate, and/or your kids about ways they can help keep up the simplicity. It’s even harder to bring yourself to do it when you have resistance.

The Cost of Decluttering

I am making it my goal to have less stuff and have more experiences. It’s hard to get rid of stuff and it’s even harder not to accumulate more stuff throughout the year. The more we buy, the safer we feel, and the more trapped we are.

I started to reflect on the actual cost of what I buy and don’t need or what I keep and don’t sell. When I realized that every dollar I spent in the $1 Target aisle was costing me my next trip to visit my family in the Dominican Republic, it wasn’t just about wanting my house to be clutter-free or about living a minimalist lifestyle – it was costing me experiences my soul craved for and cherished relationships!

I like this quote by Henry David Thoreau: “Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify, simplify! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand.“

Benefits of Decluttering

When you declutter your home will be cleaner, more organized, safer, and healthier, and you will save time and stress because you won’t have to take care of things you don’t use or hunt for them amidst the chaos.

When we have less stuff and become conscious buyers and conscious keepers, we actually feel self-assured that we don’t need things to be valuable, worthy, or successful.

So… we all want to declutter, but we all put it off. What’s up with that?

Why Is Decluttering So HARD?

It’s simple. It’s necessary. The benefits are obvious. It’s even on-trend, right now. So why is decluttering so hard? 

Attachment ~ I’m listing this one first because it’s the hardest for me. I remember I used to own this set of 3 clay little houses that I brought from my country to remind me of my favorite places.

We lived in a rental apartment on the first floor and someone jumped so hard that they all collapsed and shattered on the ground. I was a mess. I sat on the ground among the pieces, ugly crying, as if someone had died, and that’s when I understood my issue with emotional attachment to things.

The more I purge and clean up, the more I am able to let go of things that once seemed unbearable to part with. I have to keep reminding myself that I’m not forsaking or dishonoring the country, the people, or the memories the item represents, just clearing up space in my life. This practice has strengthened my muscle to let go of what doesn’t serve me in life and to be an example to my daughters.

Guilt ~ It’s hard to get rid of something that cost a lot of money or that someone gave you as a present, for example, but if you get rid of the thing, the guilt goes with it and you’ll be a better person and a better mom without it.

Aspiration ~ If you’re anything like me, maybe you keep stuff around because you wish you could do something you are not able to do right now or be something you’re not…. yet.

Books are a problem area for me. I love reading books and writing books and I have so many of them! I aspire to read them all, some for a second or third time, but I never get around to it and so when I look at them, dusty and unread, I feel sad. This happened before with all these crafting, sewing, and scrapbooking supplies I had from back when I thought I’d be a stay-at-home mom until the girls started kindergarten.

I’ve had to get really honest with myself and realized that this stuff brings me down and by keeping only what I can and will use, I feel productive, successful, and at peace with this stage of my life.

Just in case ~ This is such a lie we all tell ourselves. We keep stuff because we may need to use it in some uncertain future. Or we keep old clothing just in case we do lose the weight we gained, or gain back the weight we lost. This just makes us feel like failures!

I remember how hard it was for me to get rid of the baby gear because I might get pregnant again, even though I knew in my heart Eliana would probably be my last baby, and hey! if it turned out to be different, I could always buy a new crib and all. I was much happier just enjoying my little one, being a present and connected mom, and seeing her grow and didn’t waste more time planning for what I didn’t have and maybe would never have.

Dread ~ If you ask me why I haven’t yet organized my garage, I would probably want to answer that I haven’t had time. You would believe me – after all, I run a business, I homeschool, and the weight of all family responsibilities rests on my shoulders. I would probably also tell you I haven’t had the energy. I’ve been sharing how my PTSD has debilitated me so much lately and it’s all true. But that’s not why my garage is not done.

Decluttering is not as simple as cleaning up or organizing. We dread decluttering so much because we have to make decisions – difficult decisions. We dread decluttering because we have to get honest with ourselves and others about our priorities, about our commitment to what we say, are our goals and dreams, or about accepting the season we find ourselves in.

Decluttering your life is not just about decluttering and organizing counters, drawers, closets, cabinets, or your desk, or getting rid of unwanted stuff – besides having a clutter-free home and workspace, we declutter the baggage that came and stayed with everything we’re holding on to much longer than we should.

Decluttering helps us create calm and order in our lives because we prioritize our resources and also our time. We reduce our shopping and allow for more quality time with our loved ones and those activities that bring us joy and value.

Are you ready to declutter your life? By becoming a minimalist, a simplifier, a conscious buyer, and a mindful keeper, you can create a life full of experiences, an abundance of things to smile about, and things to share.

[ela]