Spring is in the air and perhaps you are feeling the natural urge to declutter your house in a practical way.
We are soaking in more vitamin D, it’s getting easier to get up and move around with the warmer spring air. Birds are singing, the ground is sprouting with new life. You are feeling the warmth wake up your soul.
Working with the natural rhythms of the seasons can be a great way to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time.
All of us have areas in our life that are stressful and burdensome. Working through the physical areas of my life that need decluttering makes room for my brain to process electronic and emotional clutter.
So Let’s Start In Your House.
What areas are problems areas in your home?
Take time to decide on an intentional, bite size chunks to tackle.
Spring is a great time to take out all the clutter.
Decide what needs to stay, what needs to go, and what needs to be repurposed.
During this time, it’s also a natural for you to deep clean the areas you’re attending to.
Here Is My Method Of Decluttering An Area:
- First pick the area that needs to be cleaned.
- Grab two trash bags – one will be donate, and one will be trash (label them if that will be helpful for you.)
- Take everything out of the space you are cleaning (Let’s say I’m working on organizing my girls toys. I take the toys out one by one, but I make sure to take all the toys out. If there are other areas in my house the toys are located I will grab those also and bring them to the space.)
As you take out the items, put it into one of these piles
- Keep
- Maybe
- Donate
- Trash
- Having the maybe pile helps me a TON! This is the pile that I am not fully ready to commit to letting go, but also am not sure I actually need. After I’ve gone through all items, I look back at my MAYBE and KEEP piles. More times than not I realize I already have something in the KEEP pile that is also in the MAYBE pile. I can now get rid of it.
- Then I take the donate pile out to my car, and MAKE A PLAN to bring it to a donation center. Or else I’ll drive around with it in the back of my car for six months…
- Trash goes away.
Now I’m left with one pile – Keep.
It’s time to clean the area. Just a cloth and some homemade cleaners will do the job. Clean the inside and outside of the storage item as well as the wall and surrounding areas. Now it’s time to put things back. And look – You’ve tackled an area in your house that has been giving you emotional stress!
Now Let’s Talk About Decluttering The Less Physical Items In Your House – Electronic Clutter
Emails, documents, pictures, they can all lead to a feeling of overwhelm that starts to blind you to their power. Let me tell you, not addressing them is affecting you.
So let us start by unsubscribing to email lists. Say no when companies ask you to join their email lists – 10% off one item (sale items not included) is NOT worth your sanity! Please understand, companies will likely send you one or more emails A DAY. It’s not worth it to have that kind of stress in your life. Slowly go through those email and push, “unsubscribe”. Usually it’s a small grey button listed on the bottom of the email.
Now go delete your emails. Most of the store emails, delete and never look back. Remember – you don’t need that coupon. More personal emails, give yourself time, but also remember, you most likely don’t need them.
As for pictures, I set a reminder on my phone to download my pictures from my phone to my computer. I also add them to a hard drive and favorite printing store on the same day every month.
Being overwhelmed in a physical and electronic way, can hinder me from even being able to unpack the emotional baggage I am carrying around.
Emotional Decluttering
We all have emotional parts of our lives that can be moved towards a place of restoration and peace. I suggest finding a therapist or dependable friend to help walk you through some of these areas. When looking for a therapist in your area, you can google “therapist near me”. Most therapists offer a free consultation where you can sit down and see if they would be the right fit. Some offices have interns who work for a smaller hourly rate, which can be helpful.
Don’t let the cost detour you, think about the big picture, perhaps you only need 5 sessions, at $100 per session that’s only $500 for a really good start to your emotional health. Looking at the big picture cost helps realize it’s actually manageable for a lifetime of health.
I believe spending intentional time working towards decluttering can help you move to a place of peace in your life. It’s one step in a big process, but it is a step and should be seen as an active movement in health.
Check In Time!
Alright, how are you feeling? Overwhelmed? Excited? Nervous? Empowered?
Remember to create small manageable steps, but be diligent with them. This took a while to accumulate, all of it will take a while to go through. It is very manageable, you just need a system to accomplish your goals.
One Last Thing To Remember – You Can’t Organize Clutter.
Try to look through your items with a lens of what do I need, and try to Marie Kondo. Thank your items – but let that weight go! You don’t need all that stuff weighing you down.
I promise you will feel better when you let it go.
Using this season to naturally declutter places in your life that are weighing heavy on you is a great way to build momentum. Take small manageable steps to work towards your goals to declutter your house and your life!
