My fiancé Owen and I are in the process of preparing to move into an apartment. We currently live in a large home with roommates, so we’ll be downsizing a bit. Initially the prospect of moving all of our belongings that we’ve acquired to fill our large space over the past few years overwhelmed us, until we recognized the opportunity it presents: the opportunity to simplify and start fresh.
While I’d by no means consider us hoarders, Owen and I each have certain things that we tend to hold on to longer than necessary. I have a weakness for collecting books – the older the better – and keepsake items. Owen has a tendency to keep every t-shirt and sweatshirt he’s ever acquired whether from sports teams, events, or gifts over the years. As we started to get organized to pack to move, we realized it was time for a cleanse, and it made me think about the benefits of decluttering and simplifying.
When you walk into an overly cluttered room, it’s almost as if your belongings are yelling at you. It’s loud. Your mind is immediately filled to the brim with the clutter that you’re seeing. Then even when you leave the room, the images seem to stick with you. It affects your sleeping, your focus, and your patience throughout the day. It’s no secret that we all tend to collect material things. We love stuff. But when you take a step back from it all, close out of the online shopping tabs, and trash all of the BOGO coupons, you’ll realize that you don’t need most of what you have. It’s simply clutter, not only in your home or work space but it’s clutter internalized as well.
Take a quick scan around you. How many things do you need and use? Is it safe to say that there are very few? Now this isn’t to say that an object needs to have tangible utility to be valuable, because it doesn’t. If it’s something of beauty, something containing memory, or something that brings you a sense of peace, it’s inherently valuable. That being said, there are many other things that you can and should get rid of to simplify your life and achieve a greater sense of inner peace.
Five Ways to Simplify your Life:
1. Significantly trim your collection of clothing, shoes, and accessories: how many camis with small holes do you need? How many unmatched socks and articles of clothing with “just a small” stain? Those potential occasion dresses that you’ve been collecting – the occasion will likely never arise. You’re looking at (reading the words of) a fellow shoe and clothes lover. However, when I set myself the task of decluttering my closets and drawers before our move, I vowed to not only get rid of things I don’t wear, but to rid of a little extra. I got rid of things that I still like, but don’t wear often, or that I have similar or doubles of. I don’t need three white camis that aren’t in good shape. I don’t need three similar pairs of black flats, and I certainly don’t need four red scarves in only slightly varying tones. Whether you donate or consign for a little extra cash, you’ll find each day starts and ends with a greater sense of peace when you open your closet doors and drawers and only find what you need and love.
2. Get rid of old makeup and beauty products: men and women alike tend to hold on to every tube, bottle, palette, and can that hold the smallest amount of beauty, hair, and skin products as if stores will soon run out of them all. It’s understandable – these things tend to be expensive, some more than others. We also don’t want to ever be in the situation where we completely run out of something at an inconvenient moment. However, you’ll find that if you simply keep what you use the most regularly and very little else, the feeling of cleanliness and organization that you find trumps the fear of running out. You’ll never use that last little bit, especially if it’s been there for months (or in some cases, years).
3. Stop hoarding office/school supplies: multiple boxes of pens and pencils, half-written notebooks, old packs of unused index cards from college, dried rubber bands that hardly stretch, and Sharpies and highlighters that have long since died. These things are easy to collect, as we go through them so often, but why is it that every time we see a sale at Staples or WalMart, we pick up more spiral notebooks for 49 cents, and another box of cheap pens that are bound to end up uncapped in a junk drawer? Keep what you need, and either throw out the rest or better yet – donate to a school or teacher who is in need of supplies. This goes for old expired files (insurance claims, speeding tickets etc.) and craft items as well. Maybe there was a point in time when you loved scrapbooking, but is it necessary to keep every little paper heart and sticker?
4. Kitchen and bathroom overhaul: when you go to college, you often become the receptor of all household items that your family members want to get rid of, which is great and helpful in college, but afterwards only clutters your own home. If you get a new panini maker, get rid of the old one. Similarly, you don’t need three large pasta pots, two french presses, and four colanders. That blender that hasn’t worked in two years? It never will. Trash it, donate it, or give it to someone else just starting college. The same goes for bathroom and kitchen cleaning products. It’s unsafe, unsanitary and unnecessary to keep every sponge, scrub brush and rubber glove you’ve ever used to clean. Convinced you’ll be able to use that tiny little bit of cleaning spray at the bottom of the bottle? Get a new bottle, trash the old, and move on. Cleaning isn’t fun as it it, so don’t add more stress to your life by opening a cabinet overflowing with old and mostly empty cleaning products.
5. Go through your keepsakes: this may be something that is more personal to me, but I tend to keep little items that I tell myself will make nice keepsakes in the future. I’ve been doing this since I was young. While I do keep them organized for the most part in labeled boxes, these boxes are multiplying, so I recently decided to look through them. While it was wonderful to reminisce on some of the keepsakes, there were many which I couldn’t identify (completely faded movie tickets, a mysterious empty Altoids case, and a pile of dried flower crumbs from what I assume were corsages from high school dances). Don’t get rid of things that are of significance, but just because something meant something to you once, doesn’t mean it still holds that meaning or memory, and it may just be taking up space that you could use for new memories.
It can be difficult to get rid of belongings, but if you can take even small steps at decluttering and simplifying your life, you’ll see very quickly that the peace you find is worth the ridding of the unnecessary things.
A Type-A Hippie 