Decluttering as a journey
You’re never really done.
Decluttering is the new craze. If you aren’t getting rid of everything you own, well, what are you doing with your life? Accumulating clutter, that’s what.
Apparently, cleaning can boost your mood. And having a lot of clutter around isn’t exactly good for you. I know that sometimes I clean when I’m in a bad mood, and then looking at the clean space afterward makes me feel better.
Other times, I’m too exhausted to declutter and keep a sparse living space. I’ve written in the past that it’s an ongoing progress to stay on top of clutter, and I still haven’t hit a sign that says “the end.”
But I’ve started to see fewer articles about “minimalism” or “decluttering.” Either we’ve hit peak — people got rid of everything — or people are starting to get tired of it. I know I certainly had a solid year of decluttering, and then wound down. But I haven’t given up entirely.
Here’s what I’m working on now.
Junk mail is the bane of declutterers. It’s not even your choice: it just comes in, and you have to separate it from the mail you really need. Mentally, having to look at literal junk on my counter when I come home is not a good start to the evening.
I have been working hard to decrease it. I recently wrote this piece about junk mail, but want to add that I have been using Catalog Choice to unsubscribe from a lot of mailings. Some people have found the app PaperKarma helpful, too.
And I did go into a lot of my accounts, looked for a “Marketing” section under “Account Settings,” and checked off the request that I not be mailed any marketing e-mails. Fingers crossed, that will work.
The amount of credit card offers and life insurance postcards I get has whittled down to almost nothing. Most days, I get no mail.
Calls
I previously wrote about the amount of robocalls I receive; that’s a kind of auditory clutter, isn’t it? I downloaded the app Hiya and it seems to work. Now spam calls don’t ring —an alert pops up on my phone, and they silently go to voicemail.
Giving stuff away
I have to get back into the habit of this. I have a box of stuff in my office I need to give away, and some clothes I don’t wear anymore. This is just a matter of registering for my local charity to do a pick-up.
Not buying anything
I haven’t bought a lot of clothes. I still mostly keep to my capsule wardrobe colors of blue/gray/green/black/white. I did buy something tan, which I know is really wild and crazy. I try to keep mainly to solid colors, limiting to the occasional pattern (mostly stripes).
However, the weather in my area has been a little unusual. It’s cold, sweltering hot, then cold again. So my closet is a little messier than usual with a couple of jackets hanging around, when normally they’d be put away.
That’s where I’m at now. I don’t anticipate any more big decluttering sprees, because I’ve mostly got my possessions down to where I want them. I may end up with a little more stuff soon, due to the need to travel, but that’s a balance I’m okay with.
