Decluttering … The project I have learned to love

I know what you are thinking … I am one sick woman if I love to declutter.   I know … it means opening that junk drawer or looking in the back of the closet in that catch-all box and actually making decisions about what can stay and what should go.  But, I truly have learned to love the feeling of purging and the more open feeling when I look around the house and see “empty” areas.

What positive results, you might ask:

1. I can find things I truly need much more easily, since there are not a ton of things to look past before I find what I need.
2. I feel less stressed.  I always thought it was a myth that a less cluttered environment leads to a less stressful mind, but after a decade of working to declutter, I think it is true.
3. A local charity or your neighborhood garage sale folks, love you.
4. Your cats find new hiding places and toys they forget they had.

My husband helps … and here is how we make it more fun and not so daunting:

1. We set one day a weekend and we set aside 1-2 hours.
• We generally do this each weekend throughout the winter and by spring, the house is a bit less cluttered.
2. We usually start slow, with a cup of coffee and some news reading or tv watching before we start.
3. We start in one room … once the coffee kicks in.
4. We set up boxes for donation or a garage sale, and a box for trash.
5. We literally touch every item in the room - open ever cabinet, drawer or box - and make decisions about every item.
6. We try and eliminate at least a quarter of the items in the room. 
• Some rooms like the bathroom are tougher to do this for, but closets and junk drawers more than make up for the bathroom.
7. After 1-2 hours, we stop. 
• We clean up whatever mess is left.
• The full box(es) go to charity or into the garage for the sale later in the spring.
• The trash goes to the trash can.
• The partial boxes just go out of the way.
8. We then reward ourselves for a job well done.   We go out to lunch, catch an afternoon movie, or take a nap.
9. The next weekend we start wherever we left off.

Two other things we try and implement throughout the year, though we are not as good at these yet:

1. Put a donation box in the garage and put items in as we realize we don’t need them anymore.
2. Live by the “One in / One Out” rule.  If something new comes in, something must go in the donation box in the garage.

We are not 100% faithful about doing this every year in every room, but we have tried to get in the habit more and more as the years have gone by.   It makes a difference in our lives.  As with everything else, I see positive results happening in my life as a result of removing the clutter.