Spring is here again. It’s a natural time to declutter. It feels great to get rid of the stuff that’s on our shelves and in our drawers, cabinets, and closets. My favorite part of decluttering (when it’s over) is seeing empty surfaces where there used to be piles. This year I’m doing things differently than I have in the past, and I’ve found that decluttering is easier, more fun, and more of a boost to my energetic vibration. I’m decluttering UP – on a higher plane.
My old way of decluttering involved clearing one space at a time, using four bins to sort everything, cleaning the empty space, and then organizing and putting back items from the “keep here” bin that belonged in that space. When I was done, the shelf or drawer or cabinet I had decluttered looked great; items in the “trash” bin had been removed and taken to the curb; and I had taken things in the “donate” bin at least as far as the car. However, I still had a “keep, but not here” bin of things with no place to be. Deciding what to do with the things in this bin took too much energy and dragged my vibration down. If I couldn’t decide, the bin would sit there, and every time I looked at it, I would be reminded that I had not done the whole job.
This year, when I finish decluttering an area, there is no “keep, but not here” bin. As I pick up each item that I’ve decided to keep but that doesn’t belong where it currently lives, I immediately take it to where it makes sense to keep it. If it doesn’t fit there, I immediately decide whether it is more important to me than something else that occupies that spot. The thing I like best wins and gets to stay. The other thing gets donated. I feel great about this new way of decluttering because I end up with fewer things, and I know that my donations will benefit others.
In the past, I have always started decluttering from the outside edges of my home – the attic, the garage, etc. I thought that if I could make space on the fringes, I could move things from the middle to the edges and have more room in drawers and cabinets inside the house. In theory, that works. However, after working for hours and sometimes days in the stuffy attic or garage to clear a little space, I found that my physical energy was depleted, my mental energy was low, and the inside of my house, where I spend most of my time, was still a mess.
This year I started decluttering in the rooms I live in. I started with the things I could see, things that were stopping me from enjoying those rooms. I picked up the offending items, decided quickly whether they deserved to stay in the house or not, and either put them in the donation box or in their proper place. I very quickly could see the floor, things looked neat, and my mood shifted from heavy to light after only a few minutes of work. I’ve learned that if the floors and countertops are clear it doesn’t matter to me what’s behind the cupboard doors and inside the drawers. I know that I can get to those spaces later. I get an immediate energy boost when my surroundings are in order. I can write when there are no piles of paper on my desk. I can try out a new recipe when my kitchen counters are clean.
Changing just a few things about the way I declutter my home has made a big difference in how I feel. First, I don’t have any bins or bags sitting around full of stuff waiting for me to give it a home. Those items either have a home now in my house or they were donated and could by now be blessing someone else’s life, which makes me feel good. And because I focused on getting my inside spaces nice and neat first, and because I decluttered and made decisions about one item at a time, I have lots more mental and physical energy, which boosts my creativity and my motivation to tackle bigger cleaning and decluttering jobs in the garage and attic. If you’re ready to raise your vibration by decluttering your house, I hope you’ll find this advice useful!
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