For this year, I will be attempting to create a home free of excessive “stuff”. So come with me in this hassle-free declutter journey!
What I learned in 2020 and with staying in place and the whole quarantine is that my family has A LOT of stuff! Staring at the same walls revealed everything I had set aside to address at a later date or when I had time. Before quarantine, that time never came. Life got busy and things just got pushed aside. Well, COVID-19 happened. Quarantine happened. And now all I have is time! So this month, I decided to start a hassle-free declutter journey.
What happened for me in 2020?
2020 was a rough year. For many reasons other than COVID-19. Like how rough it was to finally admit that everyday was groundhog day. And how much I hate online learning for my kids. And how I hate that my husband has be out there working. But the roughest part was realizing that I had absolutely no control over any of this whatsoever! What ended up happening to me was something I never expected.
I wear a FitBit every day. Among many things, it allows me to measure my heart rate, both at rest and active. I started noticing that my resting heart rate was elevated. It was such a small increase that I didn’t make a big deal of it. It wasn’t until an eye appointment where the nurse, after taking my blood pressure, offhandedly mentioned that it was higher than my normal. That struck me as strange. Because at the time, I thought I was calm and relaxed and nothing was bothering me. Well, apparently not.
It wasn’t until I started adding up all the small things that were starting to get to me. I started thinking about how best to utilize our living space. So I pulled out the tape measure to figure out how to replace fixtures or to better store (read hide) all our clutter. I wanted to change everything. Then I started replacing and rearranging things here and there. Going through stuff for donation or throwing things out. And it wasn’t until my husband told me to stop rearranging and replacing that I realized I was suffering from anxiety. And my desire to declutter was a way to handle that anxiety.
Why declutter now?
Apparently my anxiety is centered on confining spaces (this is self diagnosed). I’m not claustrophobic; but when a small space gets used up with what I view as random and excess things, I noticed I get very anxious. And I just want to throw everything away. Our home isn’t a small space; but when you’ve lived in it for the last 365 days and counting, with no breaks, it can seem really small.
Fortunately my husband humored me and we redid our bedroom in 2020 – new bed, new bedding, shelves, storage, etc. It was such a pivotal moment that made me feel so happy. Getting our room redone was euphoric. And I wanted to feel that happy again. That relief was like a drug. So if I can feel happy changing a few things around, might as well go through the house and start some spring cleaning a little earlier this year.
But the caveat was that I couldn’t do too much so as to raise my husband’s anxiety. I’m still not moving as slow as my husband would like; but he seems okay with it and shakes his head behind my back.
Why and how did I start this hassle-free declutter?
I watch a lot of YouTube. And one of my favorite YouTubers showed how she reorganized her spice cabinet and I was inspired. And then she made a video on how she created her minimal winter uniform. Again my mind raced. But in that video, she talked about how she joined some other YouTubers for a Clutter Free January. One week, they decluttered their kitchens. Next, it was their wardrobe. I think this week will be paper clutter. Let me tell you, so many tools flooded my mind and I wanted to start right away.
So why did I start? So I could get a grip on my anxiety. Decluttering our excess needed to happen, even my pseudo packrat husband could mildly agree.
How did I start? I just needed to get in there and not allow fear to stop me or make me question my decluttering process. It was a shift in mindset. And the videos linked above definitely helped to inspire this journey.
Come with me in this hassle free declutter journey!
I’ll link below what I’ve done so far as I get them (the task and the post) done. But do expect these to come first:
Hassle-Free Declutter Spice Cabinet
Hassle-Free Declutter Wardrobe
I apologize in advance that I wont’t have before/after pictures of my journey. Partly because of embarrassment, but mainly because this process was so spur of the moment, much like my anxiety, that I never thought of taking pictures. But what I will share is my thinking, my tips, some tools, and maybe what I learned during the process.
So come with me and lets declutter together!
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