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Clutter in Your Home
09/24/2008 - By Val Sharp Val Sharp
Your home should be a relaxing place to be...
I know you’ve been hearing about de-cluttering ad nauseum. It’s on TV, in all the decorating magazines, and it’s getting kind of tiring. However, it’s critically important. Getting rid of clutter in your home can change your life.
Think about it. When you walk into a cluttered room or look in that cluttered closet, your heart drops. Imperceptibly, bit by bit, you are dealing with negativity in your own home. Isn’t there enough of that out in the world? You just don’t need those kinds of feelings in your home. Your home needs to be a place of refuge; a place that makes you smile when you look around. It’s clean, it’s harmonious, it flows, and you feel good when you’re in the rooms. If there are any places in your home that make your heart sink, you need to tackle them—right away.
Think about how you feel when your office desk is cluttered. It’s hard to concentrate. Your thoughts are scattered and you jump from one thing to another. That’s how clutter in your home impacts you. Getting rid of it will help you focus. You will also feel more calm and relaxed. Think of the energy that can generate!
Let’s define clutter. Clutter isn’t just having a lot of things. If you have a lot of possessions that you love, or that are useful, and they all have a place where they are stored or displayed, then it’s not clutter.
Clutter is being surrounded by things you don’t love or don’t need. Look at each item you own and ask yourself two questions:
1. Do I love it? If yes, keep it. If no, go on to question two.
2. Do I need it? If you used it in the last year or definitely plan to use it in the next six months, it can stay. If not, it needs to go.
What about those of you who love everything? You’re so sentimental that you can’t throw away the art your daughter did in grades 3, 4, 5…..even though she’s married with three children of her own now. Find a loving friend or a trained clutter professional to help you let go. At this point, you don’t own it, it owns you.
What if you think you’ll need it someday? Get rid of it. Chances are you’ll forget you have it by the time you really do need it and you’ll buy a new one anyway. Or it won’t work anymore, or you won’t be able to find it because you have so much stuff.
Some of us have parents who were affected by the Depression or they didn’t have a lot of money, and we were brought up never to throw anything away. This kind of conditioning makes it difficult for us to part with things. It’s important to really look at why you’re keeping them and whether it makes sense for you now. I will never need 100 elastic bands or 200 twist ties or 300 plastic grocery bags. It’s okay for me to get rid of most of them and just keep a few that I will need. They are easy to acquire if I ever need more.
Maybe you love reading and can’t stand to get rid of a book, newspaper, or magazine. Ask yourself if you’ll ever read it again. Honestly. If yes, then keep it. If no, please give it to those who don’t have access to books. Give your magazines to professionals you know who have a waiting room—doctors, dentists, hair stylists, hospitals.
For most women, clothes are an issue. We always think we’ll wear them again one day. Or that the style will come back. I’ve caught myself saying “But it’s a good wool suit. It’s a classic. I know I’ll wear it one day.” I kept my suits for ten years based on that premise. The reality is that if I did need a suit, I didn’t want to wear ‘that old thing’ and I bought a new one anyway. So I finally gave them all away and have never missed them. I also have the satisfaction of knowing that perhaps someone out there is using them and loving them. I now go through my closet every six months and give things away. It makes it easy for me if I imagine someone with no money standing in front of me lovingly looking at the item in my hand. Would I give it to them? If the answer is yes, it goes in the donation bag. Also, whenever I buy anything new I try to give away one or two items so that the overall number doesn’t increase. This works for everything in your home—not just clothing.
Finally, there are those items that are expensive. It’s hard to sell or give away items that we know cost a lot. However, if we don’t love them or need them, it’s better to give them to someone who does. This not only helps someone else, but frees up space in our lives for new things that we do love or can use.
Start with your new, redesigned place in mind
This will help you organize items into your three useful categories: keep, sell/donate, and throw away.
As you handle each item in your home, from old clothing to tabletop collections, ask yourself if you can picture that item in your ‘new’ home. Is there a place for it? Isn't this a perfect excuse to get rid of Aunt Hilda’s cross-stitch sampler?
Start with your least favorite or messiest room. Make a list that you can go through systematically, with categories such as tabletops, closets, and under the bed. That way each one can be checked off with a satisfying flourish as you make progress.
Clear all tabletops first, using your keep, sell/donate, or throw-away rule. Next, clean out the closets, and so on. Throw away as you go along by actually taking bags of trash to the dumpster. That way you won't be tempted to keep things that should be ditched.
I know, I know, those crystal decanters your great aunt left you are very expensive. But if you don’t love them, they’ll only make you feel bad every time you look at them. Why keep something in your home that doesn’t give you joy? Much better to let someone else love them. You can buy something you’ll love instead.
Follow the one-year rule
It's hard to predict what you are going to need, but it's very safe to assume that if you haven't worn an article of clothing, or read that paperback in a year, that it’s pretty safe to sell it, give it away, or throw it out.
You don’t need to display everything you own all at once
Sometimes even after you get rid of all the clutter, you just have too many possessions. The home will look cluttered if you use them all. In that case, you need to make some decisions about what is used in the redesign and what is ‘left over.’ Many of the items that you don’t use can be saved and swapped with something at a later date. Perhaps you use a number of collections or items during the summer and then swap them for other items or collections in the winter months. Or perhaps you just wait till you get tired of seeing certain things. At that time you can give yourself a fresh new look with the items you stored away. You can do the same thing with your art if you have too much art to display all at once.
Now clear the space
This step is imperative before moving on. I know it seems like a lot of work, but take heart. It can be done. And it goes faster than you would think. More importantly, it's worth it.
Val Sharp is the founder and past president of the Canadian Re-designers Association and the author of “The Art of Redesign – 5 Simple Steps to No-Cost Redecorating”. She instructs people in starting their own interior redesign and home staging business. Learn more at www.sharpredesigns.com
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Enjoy your home
A cluttered home
Same room uncluttered
