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Letting go of clutter can seem like a really daunting process. It can feel stressful to think about letting go of things you value and enjoy. Don’t let that stop you though! There is a reason you are searching for helpful ideas on how to accomplish it and it’s likely because you are ready to feel calmer in your space. The big hurdle is picking and choosing what stays and what goes. Once you identify the source of the problems and really evaluate why you are keeping things around, it will be much easier to purge! Here are some sources that may be causing your stress and holding you back from clearing the clutter.
Sentimental Value Clutter
When we moved I decided to saw off the bottom of our first Christmas tree to make a keepsake ornament out of it. Well, we just celebrated our fifth Christmas in our home and I still have the bottom of that tree! It’s in a Ziploc bag and I still have not made the ornament. If you have something that is sentimental and you want to make a keepsake it’s best to do it immediately. If you don’t have time, resources, or motivation just move on. You can still keep the memory in your mind, or a picture instead, and free your home of clutter.
If It’s Broke You Won’t Fix It Clutter
How many things do you have in your junk drawer? You know, the ones that you put there because you were going to fix them? How many things do you have that need super glue and that you haven’t put back together? If you are not a handy person or simply don’t have the time or interest then don’t pretend you are going to fix items. If you aren’t capable of repairing it, move on.
Maybe you just don’t have the interest in repairing them? If so, take the repair to someone that is capable or cut your losses. If it is an item that is quick and easy to repair, and you have the tools or resources available, then make sure you fix it immediately so you can get back to using it. The more time that passes without it being repaired, the less likely you are to repair it.
Style Changes Clutter
People change their style and redecorate their homes. However, most of us still hold onto those treasured knickknacks, paintings, or décor pieces that we no longer want to display! For some reason, we can’t seem to let go of them. When you make the decision to purchase something new and give your home a mini makeover or a re-design, make sure you are throwing away or donating the old things.
One Season and You’re Out!
One of the biggest causes of clutter in our lives is our clothes. We all hold onto certain items year after year but we never wear them. Like that dress that you wore in high school that’s never ever coming back into style! Yet we can’t bear to give it to Goodwill and throwing it in the dumpster would cause an eternity of guilt. A good rule of thumb is when switching from one seasonal wardrobe to the next you should discard anything you didn’t wear at all during the previous season. If an entire Summer passes by and you didn’t reach for your yellow Bermuda shorts once, chances are you won’t miss them next year either. This will drastically help you let go of clutter and help you realize you really do have space.
Does Your Grandma Really Care?
Things get passed down from generation to generation. We then tend to find sentimental value in these items and can’t bear to let them go. Sometimes you can’t let go because you feel the person who gave it to you would be devastated. But, the truth is, they gave you that hand-me-down coffee table to get you started. They did not give you that coffee table to define your living room style for the rest of eternity.
I was watching a home improvement show and they were trying to get a girl to toss a horrible pair of curtains. She said she wouldn’t part with them because they were given to her by her grandmother. That it had been her grandmother’s first pair of curtains. At the end of the show, after they had convinced her to part with them, they asked her grandmother how she would feel if they were thrown away. Her response? She never liked them in the first place! So stop guilting yourself into keeping other people’s junk. Keep pieces that are meaningful or pictures of a memory that won’t create clutter in your home.
Once you have identified your problem areas you can easily determine if it’s worth keeping or not. You can let go of any guilt you may be holding on to or any less than meaningful reason you have been holding on to those old items. Clearing that clutter is going to help you reclaim your space, and your peace of mind. Now take charge and clear that clutter!!
Do you have some great tips on how you clear clutter? Share them in the comments below!
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