Clutter’s Last Stand: How to Get Moving to De-Junk Your Life

What would we do if we actually had to use everything we own, including all that stuff in the drawers, cupboards, closets, shelves, and boxes in your kitchen, bedrooms, living room, basement, attic, garage, rafters, driveway, patio, side yard, and cars? Could we do it? It’s not likely.

Instead, we pack it, stack it, and pile it away—even pay rent to store it—and keep accumulating even more. More stuff dilutes the quality of our lives.

Every possession carries two price tags—the original purchase price and the continuing toll. That second amount is paid in upkeep, time, maintenance, and storage. It can charge its toll in anxiety, depression, relationship conflict, financial distress, and even impaired function.

Moving and storing clutter

I’ve done it. Perhaps you have, too. I’ve packed it all up and paid someone to move it to a new place. “I’ll sort it later,” I told myself. Years later, I’m still hounded by unpacked boxes which I’ve moved from one house, one floor, one room, or just one side of the closet to another.

Who could calculate the number of hours we’ve tossed down the drain because of clutter? Simple tasks turn into search-and-rescue missions. Some people in my neighborhood empty the entire contents of the garage onto the front lawn to retrieve holiday decorations. Then, spend the rest of the day cramming it all back before dark.

Judging junk

Ask yourself these questions to determine if it’s clutter or not:

  • Does it work? So much of the clutter in our homes is made up of broken things we plan to fix and clothes that might someday fit.
  • Do I really need it? Determine the impact of this item disappearing from your life.
  • Do I enjoy it? If this item brings beauty and joy to your life, it is not clutter. Sentimental belongings and things that bring true beauty to our lives should be treated with great care and respect—not packed away in the attic to be forgotten.
  • Am I using it now? If it doesn’t fall into the 20 percent of things you use regularly (most Americans use 20% of what they own. The other 80% is made up of items we don’t use, feel we should use, or think we might use someday), it is suspect.
  • Will I use it in the next year? If you are not certain you will use it soon, it’s clutter!

 

Move it out

Sell it, give it away, or throw it out. One of the best solutions for “good stuff” is to give it to someone who wants or needs it.

The more seriously you take this matter of de-junking, the more significant the positive impact it will have on your life. Important stuff will be easier to find when you don’t have to rifle through piles of worthless clutter.

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  1. howard says:

    when do you go from collector to pack rat to hoarder and how do you tell the difference. i recently sold my 300 square foot storage unit(i’ve been paying increasingly higher rates for over 20 years) to a guy that does it for a living. he sells at a large flea market(and ebay type sites). i was shocked at the amount of stuff he had leftover at days end and couldn’t even give away. what a shock, i don’t even miss the crap and love not paying rent to keep saving it. now the apartment!!!

    Reply
  2. victor hanson says:

    whoah whoah….were not all turning into alchemists here. Aslett’s book is good, but its not the be all end all. This is a process, and I actually re-read certain sections of the book from time to time.

    Reply
  3. DebbieLee says:

    I loath excess! If I have not used it in six months it goes! (Obviously not seasonal stuff) but on the other hand. I hate seasonal stuff. I have but one box of Xmas stuff. That’s it! One box. If I could get rid of the tree all together I would. Everything in my car I have used this week. Every article of clothing is rotated. Shoes, socks, shirts, jeans, everything. If I have not used it, read it, or wore it…it is gone. Gone I tell ya! My husband hates it! But he knows the rules. All the same goes for his stuff. I love the minimalist life style. Excess! A dirty word.

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