Let go of unnecessary excess

Don’t let clutter be your Kryptonite. As an alleged Superwoman, I have held onto things that I thought had value to me, when in fact, ended up being of greater value to someone else. Why we keep everything from our past (unnecessary excess) is a true-life mystery to me. But what I do know from years of experience, is that holding on to excessive objects is just as bad as holding on to toxic feelings. I can write for days about the nonsense that I feel or have felt about myself and my life. But I refuse to live another day stressing myself from the inside out. My cluttered mind showed in the clutter I kept in my external life.

When we let go of things that have no purpose in our lives, we make room for the things that are supposed to be there. You can’t receive the blessings that are in store for you if there is no room for them to go. 

Stop being a literal bag lady…let stuff go.

Over the past year, I have learned a lot about my habits and tendencies to buy things that are a “great” price. At the time, I would validate or justify the purchase because there was a use for the item in my mind. Usually in the form of an imagined project that I have designed and laid out in my brain. Yet, there is always something else required to turn the purchase into actual real-life creations. This is true for just about everything you have purchased. Don’t buy the sweater that you have nothing to wear it with or the formal dress that you have nowhere to wear it to just because the price is almost too good to pass up on.

Take for instance my trips to the fabric store.

If I found fabric that suits my design aesthetic for an amazing price, I bought it. With no immediate useful purpose, it was paid for and brought home to live with the countless other crafting and making supplies that I have gathered over the years. Ten years plus later, these fabrics are still neatly folded and sheltered from the light of day, awaiting their moment to shine.

During a recent creative space reorganization, I found fabrics and supplies that I may never have the motivation to use. Plus, due to our current lock-down status, I thought to myself, “why not see if others in the maker community can find this stuff useful.” To my utter surprise, they actually have. My neglected Etsy shop has experienced a recent revival due to the unnecessary excesses that I have recently listed. Since the ‘Rona has disrupted the lives of the entire world, I have begun the exciting process of not only getting rid of unnecessary excess but making money in the process.

Back to the issue at hand.

My crafting excess is not really an exception to the rule. Each and every room in your home is in need of some purging. The main areas that could use some downsizing are the bathroom, the closets, the kitchen, and storage.

Start is the simplest room of the house. For us, it is the bathroom. Start with the easiest part of the purge process, the medicine cabinet. Check expiration dates on ALL of the medicine in the cabinet. Toss the old, making a list of necessary meds that need to be replaced. Easy-peasy.

In the cabinets and drawers, rearrange and straighten. Remove the products that didn’t work for you and put them in a bag or basket. After checking expiration dates, ask family or friends if they want them (because what didn’t work for you, make work wonders for them!). Don’t hold on to the things you aren’t keeping. Get them out of the house ASAP! Dollar Tree and the 99 cents only store are great inexpensive resources for picking up little containers and baskets to organize and store the items for the drawers and cabinets.

As difficult as it can seem, the kitchen must be tackled.

Next, we tackled the linen cabinet. Our linen cabinet is located in our bathroom. I suggest you make that the next place you look. Check the towels for holes or rough texture. Start to get rid of the ones that have been pushed to the back and not used for the last couple of years anyway LOL. Check the sheets (especially the fitted ones) for dry-rotted elastic and holes. Toss them, and don’t make excuses for why you should keep them. Take that time to straighten and rearrange that area. There are lots of innovative ways to fold and store your linens, so try something new that may make the best of the space you have.

The dreaded linen cabinet…

Now, the dreaded kitchen, a virtual cornucopia of unused and unnecessary items. Start in the simplest place, the refrigerator. The most obvious starting point is to throw away any and everything beyond the “best by” date. Don’t forget the leftovers that have been in the refrigerator longer than a week. Take the opportunity to clean and organize the shelves and drawers. Likewise, don’t forget about the freezer. Old things lurk in there hiding and taking up valuable storage space. Check the cabinets for old flatware and dishes that you haven’t seen or used in way too long. One good way to know for certain that it hasn’t been used in a while is to check for that ancient greasy film that resides on stuff in the cabinets that have lived there for longer than you would want to admit. (Don’t act like you do know what I am talking about). In the pantry part of the kitchen, check the canned and boxed goods for their expiration dates and toss anything that is expired.

Let it go…

If you have read the book, make room for a new one by donating it to a bookstore that accepts donations or a friend who likes that author. If you haven’t had it on your body in the last 24 months – LET IT GO! Donate your clothes and shoes to someone who will get some use out of it. Don’t try to tackle the entire house in one day! This is a set up for failure. Start by doing one room per day. Focusing solely on every aspect of that room so that when you leave it is done and can be checked off your list. Most of us have a bit more time on our hands, so use some of that time to minimize the clutter in your space. Don’t let the unnecessary excess to hold you back, make some room for what’s next.

Photo by Onur Bahçıvancılar on Unsplash