My Year of Decluttering and Living with Less

While I play catch up with some older posts from last year, I wanted to let you in on my plan for this year.
I have decided to put the home “projects” on the back burner and focus on the biggest project of all which is to declutter my entire house! While I don’t have a specific plan worked out yet, the goal is to touch every nook and cranny in my home. I want to get rid of excess, duplicates and stuff just taking up space. I want everything left to have an appropriate home. To be clear, this is not about minimalism; it’s really about being able to live in and enjoy my home without as much stuff. And to actually use the stuff that I have.

I imagine that I will learn lots as I go on this journey. I have no preconceived notions about what this process will look like or how I might feel about some of the issues I have to tackle.  I’m thinking mostly of the emotionality tied to some of the clutter. 

I want to not have items piled in corners, stacked on desks and other surfaces. I want everything to have a spot/place. I imagine that I will go through lots of feelings and sometimes struggle to let go. I accept that and will work through it as I move forward. I come to this pattern of holding on to stuff and having lots of stuff through the genetics! My Mom and Dad both keep and kept lots of stuff and are experts at creating piles.

While this “year of decluttering” is my major project this year, I still plan to document this epic decluttering endeavor while also still sharing my memory keeping and reading goals. I might also get back to sharing some outfits and other events that come up in my day to day life. 

Knowing myself and how easy it is to get overwhelmed, I’m starting small. The first space I plan to work on is under my bed! Why?? Because it’s a small enough space to not get overwhelmed and because I haven’t looked under my bed in I can’t tell you how long. It’s really hard to photograph but I’ll share what I pull out and what I end up doing with items.

 And, I’m going to take my time; this is a year long project.  Additionally, there will likely be some small DIY projects that I will tackle-they are indirectly related to decluttering!  These include replacing the wood underneath both my kitchen and guest bathroom sinks.  Both were victims of some water damage. I will of course declutter those spaces as well but I don’t want to return items to a half done space. If DIY projects like this come up while I’m working on decluttering a space then I will figure out a solution. But again, the focus is on getting rid of stuff.

While I’m working on this project, I will also assess if there is a better/more efficient way to store what remains. I really don’t want to buy anything new; I’m just open to seeing if there is a better way.

The plan at this point is to share a decluttering project at least monthly. Some spaces are going to take much longer than others. If you have any ideas about how to declutter a space, especially when dealing with emotional clutter, please share in the comments.  I look forward to this journey and am excited to share it with you.