Decluttering is a state of mind

I've continued down the path of decluttering. Though it's a slow process for me. 

A hoarder's life 

I'm a hoarder and changing one's mindset from keeping everything to not is not an easy task. I do reuse or recycle or repurpose, so some things get a second life but a lot don't. So this begs the question, 'why is it kept?' 

Some are for sentiment reasons, others because i may use/ reuse in future, and many times because I haven't had a chance to sort out of its (or a replacement) is needed or not, and some need a home that hasn't been created yet. 

Daily tasks

I've stopped and started decluttering my office a few times over the last few years but thanks to family and volunteer commitments it always got put on the back burner. I'm trying to get it to become part of the daily cycle of my life where one day I may declutter paperwork or go through a box or bag, and other days I'm decluttering emails (yes they take up space too). The trick is not to leave either too long or you lose momentum. Or so I find. 

The beauty of digital 

In this day and age with digital photography, taking photos of items is a way of keeping the memory alive but not getting crowded with the physical items. This is the case with the Golden Book Encyclopaedia. I remember the hours spent perusing the books as a kid (they got tatty from overuse). I decided to take photos of the ones that sparked the nostalgic feeling of childhood and then recycle the books. It's been nice going down memory lane but it was time to let the actual items go. I'm almost done with these. I'm sure there's plenty of other items that can use the same treatment. 

 Before it becomes clutter

The best way is to not allow things to become clutter in the first place. This means having a system in place that works for me. There's no point having an in-tray if the items do not get sorted regularly. In times of great stress, this sorting has fallen behind but it adds to the stress when i can't find what I'm looking for easily. Making time at least a couple of times a week will help reduce the clutter for my future self.  And I know she will be most grateful. 😁

Until next time...

Yia!!