Cut The Crap

I never realized how much stuff I actually had until my interstate relocation awhile back. I've always regretted not paring down before paying a hefty amount for the movers to transport my truckload of possessions. I'm still working on paring down stuff. It's not as easy as it seems. You really have to be brutal about it.


In deciding what goes and what stays you may want to ask yourself what that item means to you or if it serves a function or purpose.

Of course, don't overthink - the longer you spend thinking about it the more chances you'll end up keeping it.

Also, avoid becoming overwhelmed by doing one room at a time. Or one section at a time.

Assign yourself a specific time frame. Let's say one hour to declutter the master bedroom. And so on and so forth.

Make it fun - take a before and after photo for example, that way you can see the transformation of the room.

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Things we've gotten rid of so far:
Clothing - ones that don't fit anymore and ones that we just flat out don't even wear. We've recently donated about 4 boxes worth of clothing to a local thrift shop.

Miscellaneous - We've gotten rid of knick-knacks that don't mean a thing. That word even sounds cluttery - "knick - knacks".

Big screen TV that came with the house - still usable but needed a minor repair - would've cost about $100 to fix it but why? We already have a space-saving flat-screen as our main TV. We freecycled it and freed up a large area in our living room.

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Next in our list of to be sorted out:
Books (which we have lots of)
Office supplies (electronics / small items / furniture)
Bathroom stuff
Jewelry
Kitchen items
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I call this my phase 1 of decluttering, because I have a feeling that once I'm done with everything I'll end up paring down some more.

Some of the benefits (IMHO) from simplifying:
Easier to clean and tidy up.
I have greater appreciation for the items I've kept. I'm able to display the ones that really mean something to me.
Donating and freecycling means that someone else out there is making good use of the stuff I used to have.
My head is less cluttered - slowly getting my peace of mind back. I'm one of those people that can't focus if my space is in disorder.

So far so good, and I'll post updates on how the rest of my decluttering goes.