Making the Most of Your Waking Hours: Decluttering

"I’d trade all the material items I have for another four hours in my day."
– Trent from The Simple Dollar

ME.  TOO.  ;)

But sometimes I’d trade the extra four hours I do have in my typical day for more room on a shelf, less clutter in a closet, and generally less junk to have to look at.

"Decluttering" is a wonderful way to spend your time, no matter how much of it you have, because it’s like a savings account of time spent:  You earn back the time you spend doing it, plus interest, because afterwards you have less items taking up your time and space, demanding cleaning, moving around, maintenance and other time-and-brainspace-consuming tasks from you. 

Yeah, I’m the "monastic type" in some ways; but that’s not why I love decluttering.  I love decluttering for purely hedonistic reasons:  Because looking at (most) clutter makes my mind spin, and looking at neat organized areas with no extra crap getting in the way makes my mind calm.  And that’s one of the reasons monks and other serious seekers like uncluttered spaces.  The other is that everything you own puts a small demand on your time and energy, and if you’re serious about doing something big with your life, you don’t want to waste that time dusting knick-nacks, boxing things up, or fighting your way through accumulated clutter.

Not real well-known for their clutter, them monks.

Here, then, is the down-and-dirty Better Thinking version of how to declutter your life. 

(If you’re polyphasic or interested in becoming so, take extra note, because decluttering makes a GREAT night-time stay-awake activity…it’s productive, not usually very loud, keeps you moving and engaged, and doesn’t require razor-sharp focus.  Plus, by the time you’re adapted, you’ll be amazed at what a nice space you’re living in!)

DECLUTTERING:

1. Do one small area at a time:  One shelf, one drawer, one dresser, one closet.  For larger areas, set a timer and work for no more than 30 minutes straight.  If you declutter for 15 minutes a day for a week, you’ll get more done than if you do it for 4 hours straight.  (Why?  Because after seven 15-minute sessions, you’ll be excited to keep doing more; and after a 4-hour marathon, you’ll never want to clean again as long as you live.  Cleaning "often and little" is one of the secrets of great housekeepers everywhere.)
    
2. Start with four boxes (or bags):  One for garbage.  One for stuff that actually goes where you had it (i.e. "things that actually belong in this drawer").  One for stuff you want to keep that doesn’t go in this location, but should go somewhere else.  And one for stuff that’s too good to throw out, but that you don’t want to keep.
    
3. Pick up one thing at a time and put it in the proper box.  Don’t make other piles or messes; just pick up one thing, put it in the right box, and move on.  When the area you’re working on is empty, dust or scrub it, so that you’re putting the "good stuff" back on a clean surface.
    
4. Make good decisions FOR YOU:  Don’t decide what stays or what goes based on how your mom kept house — think about what makes YOU happy and productive.  I like my piles of books and research; they make me happy, so they stay, and ditto for my husband’s figure-collections.  Those aren’t clutter *for us*.  To find out what’s clutter for you, pick up an item and ask yourself, "Do I need this?  Does having it around make me happy?"  If both answers are no, then ditch it. 

   Try to be decisive, but if you just can’t make up your mind about some things, put them in a separate box, label it with the date, and store it.  If, after a year, you haven’t gotten an item out of the box, you can safely get rid of it!
    

5. Deal with the boxes:  Don’t declutter until you’re exhausted — quit when you’re ahead so that you can properly deal with the boxes once you’ve filled them. 
   1. Put the stuff that "should go here" back on that shelf or in that drawer or closet.  You won’t have to do much organizing, since there’ll be less stuff, so it will fit neatly without nearly as much work.
   2. Throw away the throw-aways. 
   3. Run around and put away the stuff you want to keep but don’t have a place for.  Make note if you have to stuff it in overfilled drawers or closets; those places can get decluttered next!
   4. And that last box, the one with things in it that you don’t want, but don’t want to throw away?  Put it somewhere that will force you to deal with it, such as your car (if you’re planning to take it somewhere to donate) or your porch (an awesome idea if you Freecycle — you can make a post and just have someone get the box from your porch!).  Don’t get hung up on dealing with this stuff:  If it sits around too long, just throw it out! 

I suppose I could add a "step six:  Enjoy every time you open that junk drawer or closet and see it nice and organized," but that’s cheesy.  There is some truth to the fact that you’ll enjoy it, though, and that furthermore, decluttering builds on itself:  The more clutter you let go of, the less unnecessary junk you’re likely to buy or take in, because you’ll know that you don’t want it to become clutter. 

Do a little decluttering on a regular basis (you know, just like I tend to advocate sleeping a little on a regular basis…and eating a little on a regular basis…GOOD GRIEF, I’m starting to sound like a broken record!)…and before you know it, your space will be tons more pleasant to live in, look at and use.
 

(Awesome Creative-Commons-Licensed picture of a Zen Temple by tiarescott.)