Want a Fresh Start? 2 Things You Must Consider When Organizing

Fresh start for the new year

It’s easy to get carried away with grandiose ideas about organizing your space or even your whole life around the new year. If you are thinking about decluttering or rearranging on a larger scale, here are two things to consider from my professional experience working (for 15 years) with people just like you.

#1 Set a goal or two

Instead of envisioning specific items you want to put in your space, think about how you want the area to feel when you are in it.

What do I want to do in here?

What do I want to feel when I’m here?

What should this space do for me?

Even if you’re only decluttering and organizing a cabinet of plates or a game cabinet. What do you want to feel when you open the cabinet doors?

For example: I want to easily see and access what I’m looking for. Or: I want to feel relaxed and at ease.

If you have to remove three other things to get to the cereal bowl you want, you do not have easy access to it.

This word, “easy,” keeps coming up in my sentences. One of our company mottos which is written on the signs we use is, “Your neighbor’s life just got easier.”

#2 Even useful and beautiful things can be clutter

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” -William Morris

Useful?

To this famous quote let me add: just because you know it’s useful, if you have not used it in years, please let it go.

Most of us have engaged in what Carrie Lane refers to in her book, “More Than Pretty Boxes,” as wishful shopping. I’ve seen a workaholic’s kitchen drawers full of boxes of tea bags waiting for the time when she will be able to sit and have a nice, calm, hot cup of tea. I’ve seen many professional women (before the pandemic) with twenty pairs of jeans and sweatpants they were longing to relax and wear but never had the chance.

Some people buy bread makers for when they retire and start making bread, cocktail shakers and fancy ice cube trays for parties they never throw. These are wishful purchases and when you have them, unused, in your living space they do not make you happy.

A huge category of home clutter is unused things, which represent so many unfulfilled promises. When the items in question were gifts to you, they may represent other emotions. But in my experience, things we’ve bought for ourselves and never used hold negative, nagging messages.

Beautiful?

Another hard truth to accept is that, even if it’s beautiful stuff, too much stuff is suffocating your space. Everyone has their own parameters about what is “too much stuff.” No one can answer this for you. An easy way to find out how much visual clutter you prefer is to clear away every single superfluous item and live like that for 2 weeks. If you miss the tchotchkes, bring ‘em on back in a little at a time.

If you’re very organized and have enough storage space, you can rotate your trinkets and framed photos and seasonal decor. As a voice of reason concerning your time and money, not to mention your mental health, I do not recommend renting a storage unit for longer than one year. After a year, the rental cost will most certainly outweigh the value of the stored items.

The bottom line is this:

If your belongings do not fit comfortably in your home, you have too much stuff.

New Year: Fresh Start

Yes, it’s a great time to rethink your space, your possessions, and your life. And your organizing journey will be much smoother if you take the time and mental energy to begin with decluttering.

Thanks as always, for reading and please call us for help if you live in or around Pasadena, California.

Nonnahs and the team

323.230.0297

Interesting reading:

Why Buying Things Makes You Happy from PBS.org

Buying More Stuff Actually Makes You Miserable from Time.com