This weekend, I have been preparing for another visit from my sister-in-law. She is lovely, and doesn’t say a thing about all the clutter in the living room. Nevertheless, I treat each visit as an opportunity to clear out more items: partly as honor-to-the-guest, partly to make sure she can sit in her favorite comfy chair in the afternoons.
Meanwhile, Mr. PiN has alternated between cleaning our house (mostly the kitchen and dining room) and excavating a particularly messy room at his parents’ house.
He and his sister will spend a decent part of her visit working on clearing that house. His father won’t agree to sell it, but since he hasn’t lived there for over a year and a half, this is a good time to throw out trash, and generally tidy up. (We don’t think he will ever be able to return safely to the place; but if he should return, he certainly doesn’t need to trip over years-old newspapers and other useless items.)
While this is all going forward, my e-mail and snail mail in-boxes are inundated with reminders to buy things. On sale! Before they run out! Let them know you are thinking of them!
I have to remind myself that the best way to declutter starts with not letting the stuff in the house.
I thought it might be helpful for me (and for you, the reader) to review some posts and resources that I have found interesting on my never-ending quest to tidy my home.
When it’s time to clear the closets, I can refer to these two posts, which try to answer some important questions: How Many Pants Should I Own? and another that I am still thinking about nearly 2 years after first reading it: How Many Towels Do You Need?
Sometimes, when I am overwhelmed with the amount of mess I see, I decide to just set a timer for 15 (maybe 20) minutes, and listen to a podcast while I see what I can get done. I am usually happily surprised by my progress. Sometimes I even keep going. This runs (sort of) counter to the advice doled out at A Slob Comes Clean (she doesn’t encourage you to “trick” yourself–or others–into cleaning longer than planned; it can discourage one from doing more timed pick-ups).
That time might be a trick I picked up from Sink Reflections by Marla Cilley (FlyLady). One of the reflections that has stuck best with me is about clutter hiding things. She asks: how much time do you spend searching for things (like keys)? How often are you searching for a bill that needs to be paid? I hate wasting my time looking for important items which I know are…somewhere in the house.
For a different approach, I enjoyed the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge at Boomer Eco Crusader. She decluttered a different area (and blogged about it) weekly in 2021. In 2022, she has been revisiting her schedule, and finding more (but generally not tons more) to declutter a year later. It makes me feel a little better about returning to an area I had cleared, and finding more stuff to get rid of.
A general guide to keeping a decluttered home (or life) tidy: Simple Clutter-Free Habits to Do in Just a Minute (by Karen Trefzger). It looks helpful for clearing a mess (over time), and also for maintaining a tidier home.
My enthusiasm for clearing out the mess waxes and wanes. I find it interesting to reflect on some of the motivations behind my renewed interest in clearing clutter. This post from One Frugal Girl: Why Do I Want to Get Rid of Everything? does a great job of naming exactly all my issues when I decide it’s time to clean up.
How do you inspire yourself when it’s time to tidy and/or declutter?
Hello! First, thank you so much for linking to my decluttering series. I’m so glad you found it helpful. I have to admit, as I shared in a recent post, my motivation to declutter seems to have disappeared in recent weeks. I think it happens to everyone at some point. I have been taking stock and hope to start fresh in 2023.
It was my pleasure to link to your series, I found it inspiring.
It sounds like you did a very good job over the past 1-2 years, maybe you need a little break for a few months…