Fall just kicks me into gear. Yesterday I did a major push sorting out cold-weather clothes with the kids - hoping to finish up today, as our entire rec room is now covered with bags (to donate) and bins (to put back in storage) and piles (to try on).
I was away or working extra all of August, and yesterday I was finally able to start tidying, decluttering, vacuuming, etc after a month of letting things slide.
I am reading "It's All Too Much" by Peter Walsh and got something out of it that I am itching - and starting - to apply to my stuff. I am one who always gets stalled by the "value" of an item - what I spent, how sentimental it is, how long I have had it, my good intentions for using it, whether I might need it someday. Walsh says not to look at the stuff, but to look your vision of what you want your life to look like. You envision your life, and your home as a reflection of your life, and then all you have to do is assess whether the item fits that vision - or not. (Like, this is a round hole - is this stuff a round peg or a square peg? Keep the round pegs, throw out the square pegs.)
He also pushes ways to make it easy to get rid of stuff. (He says "Feed the hungry trash!") I struggle with not wanting to throw out potentially useful things, and that sometimes stalls me, too. But I get that his point is not to spend much energy on how you're going to dispose of things, just do it. I think I can adapt that to a "donate anything useful" framework.
And actually the main thing in his book is to look at how you use your rooms and make them fit your uses, which I feel I do well already, so I kind of skimmed that part, but that is probably what most people get out of the book, LOL.
So I guess I'm recommending this for anyone who needs a new perspective.
And wondering if others get kick-started by the seasons like I do! (We are having a big party here on the 25th, which is another incentive to get things clean...if I do it now and can keep up with it over the holidays, I won't have to do holiday decluttering...maybe...
I was away or working extra all of August, and yesterday I was finally able to start tidying, decluttering, vacuuming, etc after a month of letting things slide.
I am reading "It's All Too Much" by Peter Walsh and got something out of it that I am itching - and starting - to apply to my stuff. I am one who always gets stalled by the "value" of an item - what I spent, how sentimental it is, how long I have had it, my good intentions for using it, whether I might need it someday. Walsh says not to look at the stuff, but to look your vision of what you want your life to look like. You envision your life, and your home as a reflection of your life, and then all you have to do is assess whether the item fits that vision - or not. (Like, this is a round hole - is this stuff a round peg or a square peg? Keep the round pegs, throw out the square pegs.)
He also pushes ways to make it easy to get rid of stuff. (He says "Feed the hungry trash!") I struggle with not wanting to throw out potentially useful things, and that sometimes stalls me, too. But I get that his point is not to spend much energy on how you're going to dispose of things, just do it. I think I can adapt that to a "donate anything useful" framework.
And actually the main thing in his book is to look at how you use your rooms and make them fit your uses, which I feel I do well already, so I kind of skimmed that part, but that is probably what most people get out of the book, LOL.
So I guess I'm recommending this for anyone who needs a new perspective.
And wondering if others get kick-started by the seasons like I do! (We are having a big party here on the 25th, which is another incentive to get things clean...if I do it now and can keep up with it over the holidays, I won't have to do holiday decluttering...maybe...
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