Create Space and Ease: 3 Ways To Declutter Your Life!
Spring is here! Traditionally this is when we have a deep clean as the light and warmth return and we can come out of hibernation. A spring clean is an ideal opportunity to declutter our lives.
Why declutter?
Decluttering brings multiple benefits:
Create more physical space and comfort, so your home functions well and is a pleasure to be in.
Create more mental space and ease, Having a tidier, clearer environment helps us keep a clear mind - there is a reason why yoga and meditation studios are minimalist! Also, when we know where to find what we need we save time and anguish searching for things.
Through the process you can re-evaluate what really matters to you and what you can let go of. This can have symbolic relevance and can help also let go of old ideas and beliefs that no longer serve us.
Creating all this space and shifting the energy it allows new things to flow into your life. If you ever feel stuck in life, that nothing is changing or improving, a little decluttering can work wonders!
Things you no longer need or love can be gifted or donated which can give us a feel-good factor and helps others.
Three Ways You Can Declutter
I suggest you do this in manageable steps and don’t try to do everything all at once. See what jumps out to you as the most important right now and focus on that first. Where are you feeling the most stuck or frustrated? What is not working well for you? This can guide you to where you’ll find the most benefit.
Household
Many years ago I found Marie Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying. It honestly made a radical difference to my home environment and tackled the many objections I had to letting things go. I particularly like the idea of tackling decluttering by category. Rather than thinking of a room or a cupboard, we tackle the whole home one category at a time. This helps prevent us simply moving stuff from one room to another!
Clothes are a good place to start. She suggests breaking this down into sub-categories for example, shoes.
Take ALL the footwear you have from all over the house and place them together in one group, this way you know how many you actually have!
Then, out of these select the ones you really love, that “spark joy”. These are to keep.
All the rest can find new homes, be sold, donated, recycled etc.
I now generally have a one in one out policy when I buy new clothes or shoes to avoid getting cluttered again.
The aim at the end of the process is that you love every item in your house and your home is beautiful, well organised, and you can function with ease within it.
Digital
Is your phone full and your laptop sluggish? I know all too well the frustration of underperforming tech! Just as in our physical environment we can start to accumulate things we no longer need, our digital environment can also get very cluttered.
It is less obvious to spot because the physical size of the object doesn’t change. However, overfull memory and storage slows down functionality and makes it harder for us to find the things we actually do need.
Just as for our homes we want to be able to navigate with ease and easily find the items we need, our digital environment should have the same qualities.
This may not be something you are used to doing so I have created a FREE digital declutter checklist for you to help you let go of what is no longer useful and make things simpler and smoother.
Now that we are on school holidays this might be a good time to have a bit of a clear out – I know I’ll be taking a few bags to the charity shop and shredding a pile of old paperwork!
Diary
This is all about time management and our personal and professional boundaries. I recommend every few months to have a review of your diary and see what you can take out!
I know so many people who have diaries packed with work, activities, family obligations, day trips and visits. Many of them are lovely things to do but often what is lacking is space and rest. Having more space in your diary allows you to be spontaneous and attend to your needs. It’s this overfull schedule that drives us to power through, rather than rest when we need to.
As women we often pick up so much of the errand running, being on committees, doing all the children’s appointments and caring for elders that there is often not much time left for our own interests and our need to rest and daydream from time to time.
Something that I have learned to use in my business which also applies to life is the '' principle. In this, we and see what is possible to:
eliminate – as in remove tasks that no-one really needs to do be doing (ironing socks comes to mind!) or saying no to some appointments or step down from some roles if you have too many.
automate – for example having direct debits to pay bills automatically or subscriptions that come on a regular basis so you don’t need to remember to re-order them,
delegate – what can other people do? This may be hiring some help or handing out jobs within the family so chores are shared. As kids grow older they can take on more responsibility.
The aim is to free up some free time that is not 'productive'. We cannot be on the go all the time and be at our best. The downtime or empty space is where healing and inspiration come.
If you’d like to find more spaciousness, comfort and ease in your mind and body I offer one to one yoga and reflexology in North London. You can find out more and book via this website or feel free to get in touch to discuss how I can help you.