Decluttering can be a roller-coaster with ups and downs. There are moments of high motivation adrenaline and quick progress, but there are also slow frustrating moments with tough decisions.
There are some rare people who can get rid of everything quickly and easily, but that personality-type tends to be pretty rare. For most people, the journey takes a bit longer.
Here are some strategies my team and I follow as we are working with our clients to clear their basements from toys, clothes, holiday decorations and old paperwork items. These strategic tips could also be applied to books or hobbies or collections or gifts—anything you are having difficulty minimizing.
The Full-Decluttering Approach involves working through your home, room-by-room, easiest-to-hardest, starting with the most lived-in areas. So always begin there.
Later in the process, you’ll get to the sentimental items that challenge your decisions. So here are Life-Changing Tips for Decluttering Items You Thought You Couldn’t:
- Start with Easier Items – Pick the low-hanging fruit first. As you experience more clear space around you, you’ll be more motivated and prepared to declutter the things you thought you couldn’t
- Explore the Reasons Behind the Difficulty of “letting go” – It might reveal underlying attachments that need addressing in your life, but you’ll never discover those motivations until you reflect on the real reasons for the attachments.
- Express Gratitude – The very famous organizer Marie Kondo encourages us to express gratitude for all the items that have given us happiness, good memories, or provided a service, and to prepare ourselves mentally to depart from them.
- Use Creative Ways to Keep Your Memories– Take photos, do collages, repurpose items, imprint a blanket, and use other creative ways to help you keep the memories, but not the items you struggle to part with. Studies show that taking pictures makes parting with items of sentimental value much easier.
- Choose Only the Best – For every relationship, experience, or accomplishment you want to remember, only keep the one item most representative.
- Set Limits– Condense memorabilia and find ways to capsule important items in creative ways. A professional organizer can provide many alternatives. Setting limits to the number of items you keep helps you to prioritize the most meaningful items.
- Honor the Past Memories But Prepare for the New Seasons – Life is about change and growth. Capsule the past in ways that don’t physically clutter your life. Recognize that donating old items make more space for the new and future seasons of your life.
- Put Yourself in Their Shoes – If you struggle with minimizing the possessions of loved ones, reverse the roles and ask yourself, “If I were to die today, would I expect my family to keep all of my things?” Most likely, the answer will be NO.
- Your Generosity will be a blessing to others– Donating to someone in need can provide a sense of purpose and fulfillment. Generosity is not just a byproduct of owning less, it can become the very motivation for it.
- Seek Support –Ask friends, family, or a professional organizer to assist you to get an external perspective and strength. Remember that owning less is a decision that holds benefits for you, your family, your health and mental peace.
I trust you can do this… and for additional support, call or email me at 773-803-9415 mc@global-contractors.com –
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