3: Decluttering is easy! Or is it?
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JoAnn Krall: Welcome to episode three of permission to be messy. I'm your host, JoAnn Krall. And today I'm talking about decluttering. It's easy, right? Or is it.
Have you ever been told by a friend or a family member just get rid of that thing. Why are you holding onto it? And you don't necessarily have an answer for them, but you just know that you can't let it go. And maybe that person's made you feel bad, not intentionally. They have great intentions because decluttering is easy for some people.
But it isn't for everybody.
So first, let me start off with my tips for when you're decluttering.
The questions that I've always asked my clients to ask themselves Do you love it? Or do you need it? If the answer is no. then get rid of it.
Sometimes those questions aren't enough for people though. they'll say, well, I may need it someday. Or I'm not sure. So if that's you, if you're answering a lot of. I might need it someday, I want you to take this a step further and say to yourself, would this be inexpensive to replace and easy to find if the answer to both of those is yes. Then you can most likely let it go. But if the answer is it would be really expensive or it would be really hard to find and you think you might need it someday. It may be better to keep it and tuck it away so that you don't have that stress of, Ugh, I let that go. And now if I have to replace it, it's going to cost me a lot of money or I'm not going to be able to find it again.
Where people get tripped up a lot of times is. Inherited items from a loved one. Maybe that's passed. And you don't necessarily love that item. But either it reminds you of your loved one. Or they've left it to you and you feel guilty giving it away.
For those items that you've inherited, that you don't love and they're just tucked away and you just feel guilt of letting go. I can tell you that if someone has passed, they are okay with you letting it go. maybe this will be enough for you to let it go. It may or may not be, and that's okay too.
Maybe if you thought that it could go to a really good home that might take the sting out of it. And you could just, speak out loud to your loved one that, thank you so much for leaving this to me it doesn't serve me and so I'm going to give it to somebody who's going to get use of it and absolutely love it.
You can do the same thing with gifts. There are a lot of people who love to give gifts And, that brings them joy. You receiving, it may not bring you joy. And so I say, accept the gift with grace. Make that person happy. And then let it go.
Now back to, a family member or a friend who's been telling you. To let go of whatever particular item you're holding onto.
Nobody can tell you. What is important to you or what you need. So keep that in mind. Do not feel shame or frustration in the fact that you can't let certain things go. Sometimes you just need to talk to an impartial source, whether that be a professional organizer like myself, or therapist. When you're decluttering don't think about where the things that you're keeping where they're going to go, because this is going to slow you down.
Focus on getting rid of as much as you possibly can before you even think about getting organized. So again, make it a goal to just declutter every day. If you're on the hamster wheel of doing decluttering challenges it could be that you're bringing in too much stuff.
Make sure that you're not bringing in more and more every day. So if you're somebody who's bringing in a lot of new items, I think about those same questions. Do you love it? Do you need it? And if it is something that you love, do you really have a place for it? So say it's a particular piece of artwork. Do you just love it, but you have no idea where you're going to display it?
Really think about that before you bring new things in, you can practice the one in one out rule. And to me, this is where I say permission to be messy. You buy a new pair of pants. You don't want to get rid of another pair of pants, maybe get rid of a shirt. That's just keeping a balance of the things that in your home, so that when you're decluttering, you're able to keep up.
And get off of that hamster wheel. When you make decluttering a daily practice you'll find that it gets easier and easier. The less we have the easier it is to set up organizing systems.
And as always, give yourself grace. If you've heard from people, you should be doing this, or you just need to do this. You don't. You do you, and I'm wishing you much Productivity, Peace, and Prosperity. And of course the permission to be messy. Thank you for listening.
