Liberate yourself from stuff

Over the last few weeks, I tackled a number of smaller projects. Going through my paper folders and shredding those no longer needed.  Sorting my electronic pictures. Clearing the fancy dress outfits. Decluttering and organising my things created such a liberated feeling!

Do you want to get on a natural high? Declutter and you’ll get this feeling of being liberated! Just follow these simple steps:

Tackle one thing at a time. I’ve met people who wanted to declutter and organise their entire home within a week and stopped shortly after just having started, frustrated with this overwhelming goal and not going to start for quite some time. Break your organising project down into smaller projects like clearing the junk drawer in the kitchen. Spending 30 min on it and get a quick win to enjoy feeling liberated.

Celebrate your first success. You may think clearing and organising the junk drawer is meaningless. Not at all! It’s a fabulous start. Don’t reward yourself with buying something, chose an experience instead. This could be drinking a coffee outside, having a bubble bath or spending more time with your loved ones.

Don’t stop here. Feeling liberated gives you new energy to carry on. If you want to take on another small project that day, do continue. Be mindful of overdoing though. You know yourself best and may want to wait and start the next drawer project the next day only.

Maintain your progress. Your organised home, life and mind doesn’t need to be reduced to a minimalistic state. Define for yourself what organised means for you and what actions you’ll take to maintain your organised home, life and mind. This could be spending the last 15 minutes of each day picking up things in each room and putting them where they belong. You may dedicate specific days for specific organising tasks, e.g. Mondays to sort all incoming mail, Wednesdays to handle all financials and the first Saturday of the month to review your clothes in your wardrobe.

Letting go of unwanted items will increase your overall quality of life, empower you and give you the feeling of being liberated from the material world. Decluttering will help you focus on what’s important to you, what brings you joy if you follow the Marie Kondo trend and can help you help others when donating your unwanted things. You don’t need to live with just 300 things but do you need 300,000 items?

What steps have you taken to address the clutter in your life? How have you felt after getting rid of unwanted things in your home or occupying your mind?

Until next time,
Agni