Decluttering

Preparing to move house has one huge advantage – the incentive to declutter! I have no idea how many loads of bric-a-brac I have taken to Hospice over the last few weeks, but it would add up to a substantial amount of stuff. It’s such a great feeling getting rid of excess clutter!

I wasn’t always the greatest at decluttering though. Early on in our marriage, my husband was the driving force behind any attempt to declutter, and I would begrudge any attempt on his part to chuck any of my belongings! I think I must have inherited the instinct to save things ‘just in case’ from my grandparents.

The life-changing moment

All that changed because of one workshop I went to at a homeschooling conference several years ago, run by AHE. The workshop was called something along the lines of “Simplify and Declutter Your Home and Schedule”. Wow, was that a life-changing workshop for me!

The ladies running it recommended some books such as “Almost Amish” by Nancy Sleeth and “Organized Simplicity” by Tsh Oxenreider, which I think is what they based their talk on.

Below are the salient (and for me life-changing) points discussed in that workshop. Please note this is pretty much taken straight from my notes on their talk.. all the credit goes to them! From memory, the ladies running the workshop were Rachel King and Jess Angove.

Clutter has a cost

Clutter does come with a cost, and not just the price it was bought for (or might save you later).

It costs you in:

• Storage space
• Time, thanks to the extra cleaning, tidying, organising and hunting for items
• Money, via storage containers, shelves, ongoing maintenance, insurance premiums and repairs
• Mental energy – stress, guilt, overwhelmed by mess, sentimentality i.e. either holding onto the past or saving for the future (“just in case”) – this is a hang-up from the post-war years when goods were scarce or expensive. We no longer live in this time!

The Benefits of Decluttering

• A sense of freedom
• More space
• More time
• Reduction of environmental impact and improving the lives of other people (if you donate for others to use instead of them buying new)

How to declutter

• Throw stuff out!
• Work on one area at a time e.g. a wardrobe
• Take everything out
• Item by item, ask “Is it useful or beautiful?”
• Make 3 piles:- rubbish bin / donate / keep
• Can have a maybe pile
• Don’t save stuff, use it!

Important considerations

1. Decluttering can be a painful and emotional process
2. Accept that you will get rid of some things you wish you hadn’t
3. Keep the vision in mind
4. Don’t try and sell everything on TradeMe – set a dollar limit (otherwise it takes too long and you won’t get around to it)

I will do a follow up post with some extra tips on decluttering (from Jess Angove)- the workshop was divided into two parts and this part (orginally given by Rachel King) is pretty long already!