Is your home cluttered? Do you have too much stuff? Do you want to kill your clutter? There’s a mindset behind the clutter. There’s a mindset behind ridding clutter that leads to five mindful decluttering techniques. You choose: fear or peace?
In order to start getting rid of the clutter in your home, you need to understand why clutter happens. It starts with fear. In my book, The Happiness of Simple, I discuss “the fear of not enough.”
You’ve Been Convinced You Need More Stuff
It’s a lie. In a moment, I’ll share five awesome decluttering techniques. First, let’s consider who’s telling you that you need more:
- Mass media: TV, radio, magazines, and advertisers all paint a picture of perfect people living perfect lives. Problem: nobody’s perfect. The perfect pictures are designed to do one thing: make you afraid. They want you to think that you need to buy what they’re selling. They want you to have the fear of not enough. It’s the art of manipulation at its finest.
- Social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest are full of people that have one thing in mind. They want to sell you stuff. Social media is also full of materialistic people. You compare yourself to them. You see what they have and you think you need it too. That leads me to…
- The Joneses: Comparisons are a problem in so many ways. You gain false ideals about yourself when you compare yourself to others. You think you need to keep up with your neighbors. People tend to believe what they see. When you see your neighbor has a new gizmo, you think you need one too.
It’s All Based On The Fear Of Not Enough
How can we conquer this fear? By seeking out the opposite. Clutter grows from fear and doubt. Conquer it with peace and confidence.
Keeping your house clean is the start to ridding the clutter. Hip Diggs has teamed up with Wendy Williams, The Cleanup Queen. Check out some of her great cleaning tips on Facebook: The Cleanup Queen.
5 Mindful Ways Of Dealing With Clutter
As you go through your belongings to eliminate clutter, ask yourself these questions:
- Does it bring you peace? I just gave away many of my Christmas decorations because they don’t bring me peace. Sure they’re pretty, but think of where they come from. The majority of our Christmas decorations are cheaply-made plastic products. That’s not good for the Earth. That doesn’t bring me peace.
- Does it bring you happiness? We can’t let go of everything that doesn’t bring happiness, but we can let go of the things that oppose happiness. You’ve likely bought clothes or household goods that don’t work out. They’re too big, too cheap, or just plain impractical. Every time you look at the item, you wish you’d never bought it. Don’t keep it around to make you unhappy. Let go.
- Does it serve a purpose? I go through my belongings several times a year. I always find things to let go. If something goes unused for more than six months, I question it. Unless it’s something that is used on a seasonal or special-occsaion basis, I let it go. I have never regretted letting any material item go. Letting go brings freedom from the fear of not enough.
- Does it bring you confidence? If something brings you confidence, it’s a keeper. I have several musical instruments. I can’t play them all at once, but I do play them all at one time or another. Playing music boosts my confidence. Knowing that I can play a variety of instruments makes me feel good about myself. I’ve narrowed my collection down over the years, but I keep the things that build confidence. If it doesn’t bring confidence, I let it go.
- Does it bring back memories? One thing people have a hard time giving up is family memorabilia. I understand. I can be a bit sentimental. Over the years, I’ve learned to let go of the things that have less-pleasant memories attached to them. I’ve also created a “best of” way of thinking. I save much of my daughter’s school milestones in a drawer. Once a year, I go through the drawer. I only keep the best of: the stuff I know will bring back good memories.
If these five mindful decluttering techniques don’t work, think about this:
- What would you need if you had to downsize to half the living space?
- What would you keep if you had to move to a foreign country?
- What if you were on a sinking boat?
- What would you let go?
- What do you want your family to have to deal with if something were to happen to you?
I Don’t Want To Keep Up With The Joneses
I want to get back to the essentials. Less stuff equals more space for love, more time for family, and more freedom for me.
I’m going to fight the fear of not enough with the peace of plenty. Even a little is plenty. We find peace and confidence when we let go and live in the present.
