You are what you own (or, an experiment in decluttering methods) |

Every New Year, lots of people (probably mostly in North America) set some type of organization or decluttering goal. Sometimes it sticks, sometimes not. For me, I’ve always loved getting my belongings into a pretty-looking storage container of some sort. Somehow though, nothing stays looking very good for long.

Since we are going to be moving again in a few months, I’ve already been working hard to pare down what we own so that the packing and unpacking will be as simple as possible. For example, I’d love to be able to take a container of labeled and organized spices from one kitchen cabinet to another and be done.

Coincidentally, Sweet Girl is ready to part with lots of young girl dolls and games as if she could care less. This is quite surprising given her earlier freak-outs if I threw away, well, garbage. She is so surprised and happy with the resulting space she has once she decides what stays and what goes. Now she’s helping me in other areas of the house. Sometimes she even comes home from school and asks, “what are we organizing today, mom?” and I have to find her a project. Luckily there are endless things to sort through right now.

You already know that getting organized and de-cluttering are two entirely different things. Sorting what you own and making it look pretty can be fun. Purposely parting with some of your possessions can feel like losing a limb. And yet, owning too many possessions (and everyone has their own just right set-point) leads to clutter.

“Why do we have 2 of the same DVD, 3 colanders, or 4 of the exact same grey t-shirt? Why do I have so many serving dishes that I rarely use? And how come it’s so easy to decide to buy something new?”

This is definitely a modern, First World dilemma. 2 generations ago, we reused tinfoil and repaired things rather than toss them and buy new. The fact that America today is all about consumerism and a more-is-better lifestyle speaks to the predicament we are in now. We got wedding gifts 18 years ago that I still haven’t used once.

Marie Kondo asks something like, “what is the life you envision for yourself?” My future self will not need to drain three pasta dishes concurrently.

The Experiment!

There’s Marie Kondo’s “spark joy” method and her new popular Netflix show based on her 2015 bestseller. There’s also minimalism, a slow living approach, the 1 in/2 out method, and some people who do a certain amount per day. I decided to read a few books on the subject in order to compare these methods and see what works best for me.

In all honesty, I’ve already started most of these and got overwhelmed and confused. So now I’m going to read only one at a time and then write about it.

I have not given myself too many restrictions. For instance, I’d already started going through my cabinets and drawers and will continue doing it as I read through all of the books. So this is not a scientific study.

The Purpose

How we spend our time says a lot about our levels of purposefulness and contentment. I am so excited to spend more time enjoying a serene home and much less time moving all the clutter from one place to another. The more things we have laying around, the more there is to dust, step over, cause visual stress, and for the cats to play with/eat/scratch up.

There are some enticing side benefits of living with less. More time. Less stress. More space. Peace of mind.

The Process

I am using some very strict criteria with all our “stuff.” Unless it has a specific purpose and is needed often (yes to batteries, no to snorkeling gear), it’s out of here. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve moved some things from house to house, never to use it once.

Each item needs its own home. And to make that happen, I need to know what I have, to create space in my drawers by eliminating about half, and to put some workable systems in place. That’s where I’ve been for about a month now.

I’m envisioning our new house and where each item will be kept there. It’s layout and the way we group and use things will be different from how we have it in our rental home, and that takes some thought. I also am planning to pack things for their future rooms, so something that may be in the office right now might go in our future upstairs craft closet.

Long story short, I’m thinking a lot about how I want our new home to be, what types of storage solutions will be easy to access, how much space we have, etc. I keep going back to the main purpose, which is feeling lighter and calmer by having less visual clutter and knowing where every single thing belongs.

Maintenance

Having children around complicates matters because they seem to come with a lot of little odds and ends. That board game that’s sitting under the coffee table… the pack of gum on the counter… the drinking glass on the bedside table. I am working on instilling a new habit of putting things where they belong (myself included). I think it’s David Allen who wrote, “touch it once,” meaning don’t take your plate from the table to the counter and leave it there to wash later… finish the movement. Rinse it or wash it and put it away. When you’ve folded your laundry, put it away in drawers right away. When you open a piece of mail, file it then. Deal with it one time only.

Yesterday, Sweet Girl and I took two very large drawer-fulls of hardware tools and accessories, sorted them, and put them into a drawer unit. It will exactly fit sideways on one of our Mud Room cabinet shelves where it will be accessible and easy to add more items to. The hammer and screwdrivers will hang on the cabinet door. All other big tools will live in the garage. I’ve got similar ideas for batteries, light bulbs, and any other “mud room” items.

The Books (in no particular order)