Welcome to today's post, I am taking part in a 31 day blog challenge where I post everyday in October. I love creating challenges for myself and joining ones by others. My challenge for the rest of the month is to reflect on some of the series I created for myself and inspiration that I have taken away.
Listen to the Podcast
Today I am going to be concluding the Clearing the Clutter Challenge
Thank you for coming back to todays post. I think I was very brave to put myself out
there - I am a minimalist trapped inside a clutterholic – is there such a
thing? Anyway I like order but I love
collecting, and I probably need an assistant (who doesn’t) I think I’ve become more discerning over what
I collect, and am not the sort to collect trinkets but I guess my treasures, might to some be
trinkets.
I decided to start a challenge that would see me go through
a number of areas and transform them of clutter. Right off the bat I had a long list of areas
and I was going to do this!!! Here is my
original list of things I wanted to clear:
Here are the areas that I decided to sort out:
The coloured ones are the ones I got done. One of the things I didn’t factor in was the time each area
would take to do, to clear it out and then write about and photo, upload,
everything. Life still went on – I was
working in the day then came home. With
this as I looked at it I felt that I had set myself up for failure as each area
that I needed to be cleared would take more than one day, depending on how big
the task was, so realistically what should have done was choose say 4 areas to focus
on rather than 30 and factor in ‘going down memory lane’ or the having a face
to face with the ‘resistance’.
When I did the first few days I was quite chuffed with
myself. I had followed the advice of organizers,
had 3 bins - Keep, Chuck, Recycle and
vowed to touch things only once. I didn’t factor in how big the emotional
attachment would be and this 5 second conversation would play every time I
picked something up:
Mind: you can’t get rid of that, do you know how long you’ve
had it
Me yes I know
but its not being used for 10 years
Mind but it might
come in handy, we were saving it just in case
Me yes but just
in case might never come
Mind you know what
happened to that other thing you got rid of your dads sewing machine –
irreplaceable!!! Can’t get that back now can you???
Me I have to
let the emotional attachment go, I can live with it, I need to clear some space
Mind but it looks
so pretty, do you remember when we brought it
Me oh yeah, I nearly
forgot, wow, it does look lovely doesn’t it
Mind That’s what I
was saying
Me maybe I’ll
just keep this one, but I said that about all the other pieces
Mind you were right
about those as well, you know your so good at this, you’ll find space for them
Me Ok maybe
just this last one
Mind that’s what I
was saying – great minds eh!
That was the conversation that I went through but once I got
into the swing of things it got easier and listened less to the emotional
attachment voice and struck a balance.
In the end I was able to do 9 areas and rather than beat
myself up for not being able to do 30 areas I was pleased that I was able to do
the areas that made a bit of an impact.
It is again a lifestyle and not a quick fix.
I continue to have a purge of things on a regular basis,
cutting back on the things that no longer serve a purpose or can find a new
home. I still have those conversations about how useful the item will be, and its
putting one thing continually out of its place that the build up happens, and
the place begins to look cluttered.
How do you deal with the ‘Oh I’ll move it in a minute’ and
days later 3 other things have joined it?
Do you have your own Collector’s tale, what kind of things do you
collect that you feel you should /could/would get rid of but …….tomorrow, or
what tips do you have that has worked for you?
I would love to hear your thoughts
Tomorrow I will share another challenge. I hope during this month you find some time to challenge, be creative and stretch yourself.
Why not join me each day for the rest of October as we dive into to some exciting challenges and look at ways in which they can impact on your own life.
I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, it is never too late to start! The main thing is to take one step at a time and do something that you find interesting.
Stay blessed and be a blessing.
Ps: If you are on a budget and would like to check out some supplies/books at a discounted price, check out one of the links below:
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