Simplification. Not As Simple As It Sounds.

For someone who is so crazy about having a neat and tidy home I sure do have a whole lot of stuff!
Part of my lifestyle challenge is to unclutter my house so I’ve decided to reduce my dependence on ‘stuff’. You know what I’m talking about -  the things that we buy because it would be oh so handy to have around but then we realize that realistically we only use them maybe once or twice a year.

One of my favorite sites for uncluttering is Unclutter. It’s chock full of resources, ideas and forums brimming with people in the same boat as I am. It’s one of the reasons I’m including uncluttering in my lifestyle challenge.

I think one of the major parts of uncluttering is the identification of why you accumulate these things in the first place. If you can identify the problem then you’re prepared to stop the behaviour from affecting your future. So I sat down today and really thought about why I accumulate all this stuff and I discovered a few interesting facts that I never really realized until now.

The first is that I grew up with a mother who was/is a packrat and we lived in a house crammed to the gills with stuff that she couldn’t bring herself to part with. Things that were from different parts of her life and careers, gifts and knick knacks; things that she kept despite the fact she hadn’t used most of them in the last ten years. By no means was my mother a hoarder like those poor people on that creepy show, but she definitely accumulated more than a family’s fair share of possessions.

And to be honest it’s also partly due to when I moved out on my own. I got it into my head that I needed the latest and best of all the technology, gadgets, decorations and stuff that was coming out – and oh look a new credit card! Maybe it was because I thought if I had them I would be cool, or maybe I deluded myself that I needed them, but I think I really just got caught up in the idea of “Oo shiny!”

In years past I always had a hard time being truthful with myself about an items usefulness or my need for it. I would think to myself that since I had spent money on it that was reason enough to keep it. But in the end because I spent money on it isn’t a reason at all – do we keep spoiled food? If something breaks do we throw it in a closet because it represents an investment? No, we throw that crap out!

So my challenge in this area of my life is to simplify and unclutter as much as humanly possible in my house and in my lifestyle. This is  also going to extend to my business too as I’m just as bad with keeping tech stuff, programs, files and non-essentials that I assume ‘I’ll use one day’.

My mantra during my mission to unclutter will be this:

1. Have I used this in the past 6 months? If it’s seasonal, did I use it last season?
2. Do I have more than one of these?
3. Can I use something else to do the same job?
4. Does this really make my life or work easier? Enough to keep around?
5. Does it bring me joy or happiness?
6. What will happen if I don’t get rid of this item?

My journey through the uncluttering process really does need to be brutal and ruthless. I need to forgo sentiment and focus instead on what truly matters – a home filled with love, not ‘stuff’.