Seasonal Clothing Switch-Over Is An Opportunity to Declutter On-The-Fly

After a long, hot, wet New England Summer, Fall is finally coming in its typical roller-coaster fashion: warm one day and cold the next. This may leave you scrambling between your summer and winter wardrobes to find the right clothes to wear on any given day.

Prepare Your Winter Wardrobe for Comfort and Style

The advantage of seasonal clothing switchover is you can declutter on the fly. As you are pulling out warmer clothes, you may notice that a sweater, jacket, or pair of slacks looks worn, dated, or small. Now is the time to decide if that item will carry you through another winter with comfort and confidence. If not, let it go.

Review Your Summer Clothes Before Storing Them

As you are packing away your summer clothes, give them a quick once over. Is something looking like it barely made it through the season? Now is the time to edit these items from our wardrobe. This applies to footwear, hats, and athleticwear. 

Donate

If you are letting go of winter wear, ask yourself if it is good enough to be worn by someone with dignity. If “yes”, donate it to a local charity or winter coat drive. If something is past using, you can donate it to a fiber and materials recycler like EarthLink, in the bright yellow donations bins.

Take advantage of this seasonal clothing switch to declutter your wardrobe. This way, when you rearrange your closets and bureaus for the coming months, everything there will be a pleasure to wear.

Successful organizing means decluttering before you buy any bins, boxes, or storage bits.

PS – Remember to go through that pile of footwear near the back door. Eliminate those shoes, boots, and flip-flops that are worn-out or out-grown. If you have some shoes or boots that need TLC, take them to your cobbler. (“Cobbler” is New England-ese for “shoe repair”.)

Check out my short blog on decluttering outdoor gear and sporting equipment.

Photo credit

Happy New Year!

Happy National Organizing Month!

Sigh.

Mini-declutter? If you are like me, you have a resolution or intention to get better organized in 2019. If you are like me, you don’t have a weekend, or a day, to dive-in and do a deep declutter.

Solution: The Daily Mini-Declutter and Organize Minute (or Five).

Start with something simple and do-able: Declutter your wallet.

During the holidays my purse and wallet became crammed with shopping lists, receipts. snack wrappers, expired coupons and the business cards of long-forgotten people. This clutter in my wallet created chaos.

In frustration I pulled out my wallet and emptied it. Then I looked at the cards I had in there. I found cards that were three years old and useless. If you are like me you get new membership cards to AAA and your insurance annually. Usually I just cram the new cards on top of the old cards. Looking at them, I realized some of these cards I use infrequently or even rarely: Museum memberships and frequent shopper cards.

What I kept in the wallet: Driver’s license, AAA card, health insurance card, bank debit card, two major credit cards (one for business, one for personal expenses), and the frequent sipper card from my favorite coffee shop.

I have a separate card case in my make-up bag. It holds museum membership cards, and infrequent shopper cards. The make-up bag holds: my card case, earbuds, mini mints, tissue packet, nail file, small mirror, color swatches for shopping, and a single lipstick.

My gym pass and library card are on my keychain along with my grocery shopping card. (I wish I used my gym pass as often as my library and grocery cards.)

Then I grabbed scissors and cut up the expired and unused credit and membership cards.

My wallet is lighter, it closes more easily and I can find what I need – instantly. No fumbling around. No chaos. No frustration.

Inspired, I did another Mini-Declutter: My purse/bag. More miscellaneous clutter – gone. I just lost a pound! (or at least my purse did). That feels better.

My next mini-declutter project: decluttering a desk drawer. OK, I’ll be real, decluttering and organizing a single file folder. Doing this once-a-day will give me an organized file drawer in a month.

Baby steps get you to your goal and are often more sustainable than the big commitment event.

I hope this inspires you to do a mini-declutter of your wallet. Adapt what I have done (above) to what works for you. If you are too overwhelmed to do the kind of decluttering and organizing that Marie Kondo or Julie Morgenstern recommend, then do a series of mini-declutterings. Identify what will make your life easier, chunk it down into mini-declutter tasks and go for it. Build on your success. Keep going and you will improve your life and decrease your stress with every decluttering and organizing task you complete.

Let me know how decluttering your wallet worked for you in the comments below.

What mini-declutter project has worked for you?

Other articles on decluttering and organizing:

How your camera/phone helps you declutter

Chinese New Year is a great time for new beginnings

Family Heirlooms and Decluttering

Family heirlooms can make decluttering more complicated. While you are decluttering and simplifying your home and your life, you may be thinking who you want to leave what to: ________ to a child or grandchild, ____________ to a niece or nephew. (You get to fill in the blanks).

There is no need to wait until you are gone to leave them these family heirlooms.

There is an overlooked part of the book, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Clearing: How to free yourself and your family from a life time of clutter by Margareta Magnusson. The author asked her children and grandchildren what they wanted from her home. She was surprised by some of their requests. Some simple things sparked powerful memories, while others had little emotional resonance for her family members. She then gave them these mementos and family heirlooms to enjoy now.

Margareta benefited from this strategy in several ways:

• She experienced the pleasure of giving them those treasures while she was alive, and witnessed the joy of their receiving them.
• She got notes, emails and photos of these things being enjoyed by her family and knowing these treasures had a new life.
• She was able to give the right thing to the right person, preventing anyone from getting well-intentioned but unwanted “stuff”.
• She avoided holding onto something (clutter for her) in the mistaken belief a family member wanted it.

This freed her to let go of things.

You can have the same benefits.

When you give family members mementoes of your family history, and extra touch is including a note with the gift. The note could tell the story of the item: who owned it, when and why they got it, and what it meant to them. This will keep memories alive.

Think of this as you declutter. Ask family members what they want. If someone asks for something you want to keep, just let them know they’ll have to wait. 😉

Ideas for what to do with gifts and heirlooms you don’t give away – Click here!

One way to motivate yourself to declutter is to imagine the space you want to have when the clutter is gone. Want help envisioning the space you will love? And that works in the reality of the space you have? Contact me, today!

Photo by Nicholas Rhose on Unsplash

I recently moved. My previous kitchen was small. My new kitchen is tiny. Although I had decluttered and downsized before the move, I discovered there was not enough room for my dishes, glasses and flatware. Declutter use your best everyday.

My Solution: Declutter Use Your Best for Everyday

I donated my everyday tableware to Goodwill and am now using my “best” for everyday. My best happens to be sturdy and elegant Dansk plates and stainless flatware. I kept only four wine glasses. I have new attractive space-efficient rice bowls for soup, cereal and desserts. I rediscovered never-used porcelain Williams-Sonoma salad/dessert plates which are decorated with 18th century hot air balloons. They bring back memories of my Mother’s 80th birthday hot air balloon ride over Napa Valley.

Delusions of Entertaining

I let go of my delusions of entertaining with this downsizing and simplification. I never had big parties or dinners anyway. Now I have beautiful place settings for four people that I am proud to use. They are a combination of Dansk, Crate & Barrel and IKEA. This is the right size for my new space and my entertaining style.

One of the benefits of declutter use your best everyday is the pure pleasure of using these beautiful pieces for myself. They make even solo meals special.

If you have a cluttered kitchen or are using a motley collection of everyday dinnerware, this will drag down your energy. (Note photo above.) Shop your closets and cabinets. Claim your best for yourself instead of saving it for others, enjoyed only twice a year.

While you are looking at your best dinnerware:

Do you have serving pieces you received as presents and have not used in years?

• They may be more appropriate to a more formal style of entertaining rarely done today.
• They may be indicative of best intensions or delusions of entertaining
• They may be leftover from food fads of the past: fondue sets, hardboiled egg platters.

Are they cluttering your kitchen, dining room, basement or attic?
Donate them. You may think of selling them on eBay. Sadly young people aren’t interested in buying them. Donate them instead.

Let go of the gift and hold on to the good wishes it represents.

Declutter use your best everyday; let go of that heavy energy. Energize your kitchen and mealtimes with the pleasure of using your best. You deserve it. This is an example of the power of beauty to boost your personal energy.

A Bonus of My New Tiny Kitchen:
When I put the finishing touches on a dish for guests, I no longer disappear into the kitchen. Now I can see and talk with my guests and be part of the fun.

If you would like help in bringing beauty and good energy into your home or workplace, contact me.

See more about organizing for beauty and calm:

What to do with Gifts and Heirlooms
A Buddhist Parable about Clutter

What is the craziest kitchen/dinnerware object you found while decluttering? Please share with me in the comments below.

Achieving Your Goal: I keep this quote above my desk to remind me why I’m working on the little steps that lead to a distant-seeming goal. Because those little steps can sometimes feel like Mount Everest.

The Why of Achieving Your Goal is Key

Whether you are decluttering or re-arranging one room or your entire house, it takes one step at a time. What helps you keep taking those little steps is reminding yourself of why you want a decluttered and organized office, or a more attractive and comfortable home.

Are you decluttering because you think that will make you a better person?

Nope, it won’t make you a better person. Decluttering and organizing will make you a calmer person. And that is a worthy goal.

Are you re-decorating or re-arranging your home to impress others?

I sincerely hope not. Re-fresh your home with decor, arrangement or color to make you feel more at home and express yourself.

Decluttering or re-decorating – do it for yourself. That is enough “why” for achieving your goal.

Have a goal for your home or office and don’t know and it feels beyond reach?

Or how to define the little steps to achieving your vision? Contact me to discuss a consultation to clarify your goals and make the steps to your goals do-able.

graphic by author
Quotation by Julie Morgenstern, author of the Organizing from the Inside Out series and pioneer of practical decluttering and organizing.

Carrying the Raft/”Carrying” the Clutter

How much of your stuff is something that was once helpful for you and now you keep it “just in case” you need it again? “Just in case” thinking is a rationalization for holding-on to clutter.

Zen monk and author Thich Nhat Hanh relates a parable by the Buddha that relates “just in case”stuff that weighs us down in life and “just in case” thinking that slows us down in our life journey.

The parable is about someone who wants to cross a flood-swollen river. They build a raft and cross safely. But once on the other side they think “I spent a lot of time and energy making this raft. It is a prized possession. I will carry it with me as I continue my journey.”  Is it smart to carry a raft over dry land “just in case” you may need it in the future? Carrying a raft will surely slow you down on your journey.

The Buddha suggests a wiser way of thinking. “This raft helped me safely across the river. Now I will leave it at the water’s edge for someone else to use in the same way.” Not only are you helping others, but your own journey over dry land will be lighter and easier.

Often our clutter consists of things that were helpful to us in the past, but are unused now. Do you hold on to something “just in case” you may need it in the future? Holding onto stuff, holding onto the past prevents us from living fully in the future. I have seen clients sacrifice valuable space they need for living, just to store their stuff. Clutter can prevent fresh Chi energy for the present and future from coming into your space. Do you want to live in the past?

“Just In Case” Clutter Dilemmas and Solutions

• Karen Kingston, author of Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui, says that this kind of holding-on sends a message to the universe: you don’t believe that you will be able to provide for yourself in the future or that the Universe will aid you.
• Some people hold onto stuff until they find just the right person to give it to.  That can take a very looooong time. Meanwhile you are stuck with stuff you don’t want. Donate it to a charity or organization and trust that God/the Universe will get it to the people who need it. What is your albatross can be someone else’s treasure.
• For things that have a sentimental value make a Memory Book. Take a photograph of the item, trusting that the photo will trigger those wonderful memories. Make a scrap book of the memory photos or save them on your computer. Then let go of the object.
• If you are holding onto a useless or unattractive gift out of a sense of obligation or guilt – let it go. The gift is simply a vehicle for the giver’s love and good intentions. Donate the gift to a charity and consciously hold onto the positive energy that came to you with the gift.

Put down that raft. Lighten your living space as you lighten your journey through life.

Want to look beyond your clutter for the hidden potential in your home or office? Contact Linda for an inspiring and practical personal consultation.

photo by rich moffett

Feng Shui Declutter – Your Camera Reveals the Truth of Your Space

Feng Shui Declutter tip: I learned this from an audience member after a recent Feng Shui presentation, the one thing that helps her declutter – she takes a photograph of the room.

You’ve heard the saying “The camera never lies.” Our brain edits out what we don’t want to see. But you see everything with a photo. Use this photo to take a real look at your space, whether you are Feng Shui decluttering or Feng Shui re-decorating. See what needs to be done.

My Feng Shui Photo Declutter Story

Taking a deep breath I took photos of my living room and was shocked, shocked! at what I saw:

• How did my launch pad near the front door get so cluttered?
• Find a better place for my library books.
• Recycle that stack of magazines.
• How did the tabletop get so cluttered?
• That chair is too far for easy conversation
• Review those CDs and DVDs, and let go of the ones I have outgrown.
• Is that the best place for my balance ball?
• Get a new sofa accent pillow to bring some fresh Feng Shui color energy into my living room.

Seeing my living room in this way I was able to zone-in on what I needed to do. It was much easier not getting caught in the distractions that often interrupt with Feng Shui declutter work.

So go ahead, take a photo. Upload it to your computer and look at it on your big screen.

• Make a list of what you want to do from your photos,
• print-out the photo and mark what you want to change.
• Inspire yourself to do more by taking before and after pictures.
• Take photos while you Feng Shui declutter the space to help you see what you have accomplished and motivate you to keep going.

Let the unblinking eye of the camera help you Feng Shui declutter your space and bring Feng Shui energy and calm into your home.

Have you used a camera to help you declutter or redecorate? How did that work for you? Do you have other favorite declutter tips? Share them in the comments below. I would love to hear from you.

Cluttered living room photo by lindsey turner

Need a Coach to Feng Shui de-clutter/Feng Shui re-decorate your space? Contact me, for an inspiring and practical personal consultation, today!