This has been the question that I have allowed to trip me up for… well… up to this point. Where do I start? How do I do it? When do I start getting rid of digital clutter, which can overwhelm me more than physical stuff can? Do I use the KonMari method where I dump all of the clothes on the floor and do it in one fell swoop (as a start)? Do I go room by room? Do I hire a professional to do it for me (which would be AWESOME)?
Don’t get me wrong, I love the KonMari method, even though I can’t see apologizing to my socks for folding them. I love how NOT American she is. This whole American Dream is a big reason a lot of people are in the stress-filled messes and debts they’re in. As you can see from the latest Financial Friday, we are no exception.
So, this is what I’ve decided to do, and it will be in two phases. First phase will be room-by-room, space-by-space. Meaning, if I’m in the kitchen, I’ll do a cabinet all at once. Take everything out, figure out when last it was used or if it’s expired, sort it appropriately into SELL, GIVE, PITCH baskets, then put the useful/beautiful remainder back. But I’m not done. I have to then sell, give or pitch. Anything that’s marked sell will go to Facebook Marketplace on the next Saturday or to our local household consignment store, so they can consign it. Any gives will go to a laundry basket I’ll have in the back of my car and, when full, it will be driven to Salvation Army. Any pitches will be pitched appropriately. And it is amazing how much stuff we’ve held onto because we don’t know how to throw it away: medication… CFLs…
I plan on taking before and after pictures of each room, then each space, and then also mentioning if I’ve returned any money from the items we’ve sold. It doesn’t make sense to say we’ve made money from their sale, we’ve pre-spent so much money we haven’t yet earned… I’m calling it returning money. I’m also going to mention if we’ve spent more money, going forward.
I didn’t really go into it before, but any item gets to stay, stays for a reason. And ‘because we’ve always had it’ isn’t a good reason. ‘Because it stores things’ might not work either. It’s going to take a lot of thought, a lot of conscious decision making. That’s why I imagine this process to be a long one. A room may take up to two weeks to get through if a little chunk is done at one time.
The second phase will be very much like KonMari. Instead of going room-by-room, we’ll take a final assessment of our things by category. This second phase is to catch the things we thought we’d need at some point but never actually used. Or to find out if we actually have sentimental attachment to that item or guilt because its a gift. It’s a process!
I’ve let my husband know my plan, and he seems to be on board. I need to gauge his hesitation when it comes to his clothes though, especially his graphic t-shirt collection. Our guest room is going to turn into a half-way house for a lot of items in transition, and it isn’t unrealistic to imagine that more than half of his clothes will end up there because of a belief that every t-shirt he owns brings joy. It doesn’t not bring me joy when he changes clothes multiple times a day and puts everything in the dirty laundry.
That’s the plan!
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