Today we’re going to talk about a topic we’re all familiar with: stuff.
We all have stuff, and over the years it just seems to keep piling up. The problem with too much stuff is that it is taking up not only your space but your energy as well. Feeling tired and drained all the time? Besides obvious factors such as not getting enough sleep, a poor diet, and lack of fresh air and exercise (or a soul-draining job), your problem could actually be all of your STUFF.
What to do about all of this? My solution this week is to do a major de-clutter. In order to get myself into super cleaning mode, we will be having a Yard Sale on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. So I have exactly 4 days to fix everything and make some major decisions. And to put off what I’ve been putting off for the last three years.
If you are ready for a major change in your life, you do not have to go on a whirlwind sweep and de-clutter, though. Even small changes will make a huge difference in your life. By removing objects that no longer serve you or add to your purpose, you are freeing up space and energy to allow new positive energy to enter your life. This new energy may take the form of a better job, new friends or love interest if you are looking, or new important objects that will reflect you and enrich your life.
If you are ready to make major changes in your life, you absolutely have to get rid of some of your clutter. Start small. If you set a timer and only de-clutter for 15 minutes every day, you will be making vast improvements and see changes. The first day you may just want to grab a garbage bag and go around the house getting rid of obvious things such as items that are broken.
Recycle any mail or papers you don’t need. If you feel overwhelmed or don’t know where to begin, just pick one area to work on, such as your home desk/computer area or your dresser. You may only want to start with one drawer, though I have always found this advice pretty impossible as I need to pull everything out and decide where everything will go in each of the drawers.
Whatever you decide to do, just do something. Set a timer and start today. In fact, set your timer for 15 minutes and start now. Go ahead…I’ll wait.
There, now don’t you feel better? Are you surprised at how quickly the time flew by? Are you surprised at how much you did or how much more you found that you could do?
Over the next few days, I’ll be dropping in to talk about some of the processes of de-cluttering or some ideas you may want to utilize.
Until then, here’s something that I actually found very thought-provoking. How do you decide what is a “collection” and what is clutter?
So who is ready to jump in and free up some energy in their lives? What will you do today to get rid of the old and bring in the new?
Comments
23 responses to “De-Cluttering Day One”
[…] that causes the weight of the 9 of Swords is clutter. If you are following along at my other blog Positive Magical Life, you will notice that this is my topic of the week. I chose the 9 of Swords as today’s card […]
Clutter is a outward sign of what our inner self really is experiencing! Chances are, if you are living in clutter, your inner world is full of clutter also. It will be interesting to see if your readers find they are feeling less stress, confusion, and tiredness after they de-clutter their outside space. The two are really related. Loved this post!
Great idea to use a timer! Breaking down an overwhelming job can make all the difference in the world 🙂
That’s a great reminder, Martha. Clutter is absolutely an outward sign of our inner selves. When you change the outside, you can also change the inside. I really learned that from watching “What Not to Wear.” 🙂
Very timely blog for me! I’m considering the possibility of selling my little condo to buy a house in another less expensive area, but before I can realistically put my place on the market I have to make it presentable! I need to go through all of the clutter and get rid of it or find homes for it which seems a bit daunting at the moment! I know though through past experiences that I always feel better when de-cluttered!
Marian, just think of all of the boxes you WON’T have to pack and carry to your new place! You new haven will be full of everything that you’ve hand-selected to bring along, and it will create much joy when you look around and see only your most special and precious items. 🙂
i agree with Martha about our outer world reflecting your inner world.
I chose a smaller house to move into this time especially to get rid of “stuff.” While visiting friends with big houses I saw that every space in those big homes was filled–with stuff they never touch! Stuff that’s been there for years! So I told myself NO WAY will that happen to me.
My soft spot is books, .Parting with books is–well, very challenging. Well, happy to say for the first time ever I have empty book shelves! Shocker!!!!
Ali, that’s so awesome. I can’t say I’m there yet. I feel like our house is way too small and have been dreaming of a larger home for the past couple of years. It is not a good way to feel, and totally unfair to this house. Today, however, I started to notice that I am already liking this house more and even thought, “maybe we don’t have to move after all.”
Don’t tell my husband! 🙂
This could very well be useful for someone like me that’s always throwing out trash. My grandma has a problem where she has nothing but mail and magazines. Every time I go to her house, I’m always de-clutterizing something in her house. The problem is every time I straighten something out, I visit and see the same mess accumulating over and over.
Thank you for sharing this. Maybe I’ll get my grandma a kitchen timer and get her to de-clutter her home.
Diana, good luck with that. When you say your grandma has nothing but mail and magazines around, it sounds like more of a hoarding situation. Is she alone? If she is, it sounds like she is using stuff to try to fill in her emotions. It is not your job to declutter for her and it will never get better if she doesn’t approve or possibly get some help (many hoarders are depressed, especially those in old-age).
I would highly suggest that if you want to help her that you have a talk to her about how you want to visit more often but don’t feel comfortable in the space and ask if you can clean it up together. Then encourage her to keep up the space so that you and hopefully other family members can drop by to see her. Good luck – that’s a tough one.
Good luck! I had to do a bunch of de-cluttering last month. Thankfully clutter is staying away for the moment. I agree that getting rid of the clutter really helps clear the space. Think of all the old dense energy that can be sitting around bringing you down!!!
I LOVE the Little Mermaid image!
Amanda, I will be talking about the aspect of the negative energy in the next couple of days. Thank you for bringing that up. 🙂
[…] that causes the weight of the 9 of Swords is clutter. If you are following along at my other blog Positive Magical Life, you will notice that this is my topic of the week. I chose the 9 of Swords as today’s card to […]
I sometimes move houses to declutter, I enjoy the declutter experience so that I can find treasures.
Have fun
Roberta, I hope you read the post about Day 2: Establishing new rituals so that you don’t create new clutter! While decluttering is an ongoing process, daily habits can definitely keep things under control. And save you having to move so often! 🙂
This was really a great post! Years ago I began to do this kind of ritual. When I felt the urge to clean out closets, etc, I would begin going through things. I would create two piles. One pile that is going in the trash. One pile that was going to charity. At first I began to get rid of things that I hadn’t touched in 5 years. Like the things you carry with you from home to home. After it was gone, I felt such a relief. New space that was free! As the years progressed I would go back to the things that I kept and if I hadn’t touched it or wore it in the last year, it was gone! Now, my home has absolutely no clutter and the energy is free flowing.
What I find interesting about this is that as I got rid of all the “old” things, new things began to appear. Not by going out and buying new things to replace the old. But in a real subtle way like in receiving a gift, etc. I also found that if I wanted new clothing, I just have to go through my closet and give the old clothes away and it was never long until new clothing just seemed to dropped into my lap with little or no expence!
I truly resonate with this article and look forward to reading more. Thanks for sharing.
Kathleen, you’ve touched on some topics on going to talk about in the next post or two – how do you figure out what to keep and what to throw away? Definitely if you haven’t used it in 5 years, it’s outta here! 🙂
Sometimes in the past, for us, it’s been having company to declutter 😉 Now that we’ll finally be empty-nesters in a little more than a month, the declutter process will be in full tilt!
Peggy, I do not envy you having to declutter people. But, that reminds me of the second story on my other today:
http://amethysttarot.com/spells-for-protection/
Excellent post Amethyst ♥
Decluttering allows the new in – the Universe likes motion. So we declutter the material and we also look to decluttering internal……probably one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves on the personal decluttering level is forgiveness, not just others but ourselves – stop beating ourselves up over would ofs, shoulds ofs etc. stop doing reruns on the past. As many a spiritual teacher has said get right into the NOW! Forgive and let go and LIVE NOW ♥
Amethyst <3 – your suggestion to just get started with 15 minutes a day is brilliant! Once we start……almost immediately you can feeeeeeeel the sense of change. Oh don't get me started I could ramble forever. This is just so MAGICAL…..
******** adds one last thing **
***Every good Tarot reader has decluttered! this allows their Intuition to thrive!
Warm smiles, love and light, Lynette
Lynette, you are so right! The Universe rewards us when we get in gear. 😉
As far as every Tarot reader having decluttered, I’m not so sure about that. Definitely the great ones have. Many of the others could become great readers if they just would declutter, haha. 🙂
I found this on facebook, one of my friends posted “Day 2” what I found particularly encouraging is that the photo for “Day 1” looked like my washer dryer area. I started this morning by clearing off the top of my dryer, well as much as I could do in the few minutes before leaving for work, but it was refreshing to almost see the top. I owe myself 10 minutes and today’s 15 to catch up 🙂 This could not have come at a better time.
Thank You!!
Good for you, Deb! You may get a message saying I edited your comment. The whole thing appeared with a strikethrough, so I deleted that so everyone could read what you wrote. I didn’t change any content. 🙂
[…] 7 years to make space for new great things in our lives. You can read about this on my other blog, Positive Magical Life. Spending hours collecting items, digging through boxes, and making multiple trips up and down the […]