Growing up, I was SUPER attached to stuff. I kept paper, receipts, broken toys, just pure trash.
I remember my mom one day encouraging me to get rid of some stuff and put it in our yard sale. She said I could keep any of the money I made. I remember being like, okay! Game on.
I am motivated by a dollar, always have been an entrepreneur.
This is the first time I truly remember having to part with things and decide what I wanted to keep and not keep.
Looking back on my childhood I remember cleaning, picking up and organizing my room often yet it somehow still seemed to be a mess. I would get rid of things sometimes but never once did I touch my emotional items.
I literally would box up and store any and every little item that brought up a positive memory. I didn't realize I was allowed to part with these things. I didn't realize the suffocating effect they were having on my life.
These items were things I'd just always had, they felt like part of me. It somehow felt that if I gave up any of these items, I would loose a part of myself.
Have you ever been there? If so, you're not alone!
Fast forward, I got married. Guess what! I brought a BUNCH of stuff with me...I'm sure that's hard to believe lol
I literally filled up our new-to-us 1380sq home with my stuff. It was insane.
Of course, I was grateful for the people who gave us furniture and kitchen supplies. I'm not talking about that type of stuff, I am talking about junk. The junk I had been carrying around with my through life. Our closets were completely full of this junk.
What I still didn't realize the toll it was playing in my life.
I would literally stay on the run away from our home because it brought me such anxiety. It was bad.
In 2018, I got my hands on a book called: The Joy of Less by Francine Jay.
Francine was finally able to help me understand that things serve a purpose. Including emotional things.
For example let's talk about gifts. Cause you know, we all were given the ugliest shirt or maybe a home décor sign from that special loved one and we feel obligated to keep it. Right?! They come over and want to see it there or they want to see us in the shirt.
You know what I learned?!
It isn't that true. Yes, there is some truth in the fact that the special person will want to see you using the item they got you. However, the other side of the coin is that the gift served a purpose! The purpose was to give you something, to make you feel special. Maybe it was a Christmas gift, a birthday gift or a just cause gift.
If you opened the gift, it served it's purpose. They person gave something to you and you had something to open.
Don't feel like 20 years later or even 2 months later you have to keep the item you don't love and don't use.
If you do, you'll end up with a lot of junk that nobody wants.
After reading that book in 2018, I started the process of going minimal. I began to dig deep into the over stuffed closets, under the bed and just all of the junk piles in my home.
I got rid of 50% of my stuff within 2 weeks of time.
Some stuff I sold, but mostly I just donated it.
The first time going through everything, I kept the stuff I felt like I used and needed. Then I started actually paying attention to what we used and realized it was maybe less then 1/2 of what I had kept. I was in shock.
I kept doing the process of decluttering and I'm excited to say that I am finally super satisfied with the amount of stuff in our home.
I don't even miss anything I got rid of....in-fact, I don't think I can even begin to tell you what I even got rid of. This just goes to remind me that the stuff you don't love....you don't truly miss!
It's a huge burden off of my back.
Our home is so easy and simple to tidy and clean now.
Don't let me lie, our home isn't perfect and yes! I have to keep doing this process ever so often. However it gets easier with time.
I am just ever so grateful that I started and finished this project.
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So if you're just starting this process or maybe you're in the middle of it. Hang in there. It's worth it!
It's a process, it takes time. Be ready to work!
With the desire and time, you will get there. Just take it one day at a time.
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Where are you in this journey of decluttering your home?
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