Why do I want to declutter? There are several reasons.
One of the most significant reasons is that we want to move to Portugal in several years. We will be taking a minimal amount of stuff, and I certainly don’t want to try getting rid of it in the last months before we leave. More on that another time.
A more immediate purpose is that I think it will make me more comfortable in the house. The visual clutter contributes to my anxiety. It is like a low-level buzzing sound in my brain, a scratchy tag on a shirt, an underlying annoyance that I’m often not fully aware of.
I hadn’t realized how it was affecting me until we got some areas cleaned out.
There have been many times when I wouldn’t work on a hobby project because I would have to clean off the table so I could have room to work on it. That was frustrating because I didn’t know where to put all the stuff that was laying around … that I had left there. Because it was too hard to put away. Either because there was no good spot for it, or the spot was under the lowest shelf, back in the far corner of the closet that was only accessible by getting down on hands and knees. And it was in that corner because…
Why? Why in that corner? That was the really tough question that I kept on bumping my head up against (sometimes literally).
I finally realized that I wasn’t using much of that stuff… that the chances of me using it were low, that perhaps, maybe, conceivably I could just let some of it go. That it wouldn’t mean I was lazy for not using all the craft materials up.
Which leads to the realization that if I just need 5 beads, it might be okay to just buy 5 beads, even though buying a 30 pack would be less expensive per bead. Because I don’t have a plan for the rest of the beads! For some reason, I was blind about this regarding craft materials and office supplies.
I don’t do this with food or other consumables, or even other non-consumable items that come in packs.
Have you recognized any blind spots like that for you?
Featured Photo: “Project 365 #27: 270111 A Mess Of Colour” by comedy_nose is marked with CC PDM 1.0
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