You have too much 💩! It’s time to REduce so you can be free. Why having less makes getting and staying organized 1000% better and how to make it happen.

Girl. It’s okay to have too much stuff. It’s your fault, but also not your fault. It happens slowly, and under the radar similarly to climate change. One small purchase at a time, one small piece of paper at a time, one small gift that never gets used and you feel too guilty to get rid of at a time. 

These items accumulate and take up every nook and cranny of your home and most of us are not in the habit of editing out stuff so, it piles up. This is often the key point in preventing most people from getting organized. 

When we finally decide it’s time to reduce and get organized, feelings of dread, fear, and overwhelm wash over us. When these feelings surface, what do we do? We put it off, we procrastinate, we watch another episode of desperate housewives, or even finish unloading the dishwasher, anything except tackling the project that feels to monumentous to get done, let alone start. 

…But you’ll definitely get started tomorrow, for sure.

Overwhelm is a beast that constantly is scratching at the inside of your brain, I should know, I deal with it on a daily basis with running my business. I’m intimately familiar with the feeling. The key is to prioritize and execute, then just keep moving forward. You have to keep moving forward though, consistently. A lot of people start, and make small progress, but then the overwhelm gets them again and they stop and never return to the project. 

This is one of the main reasons we get hired. To help people stick to moving forward, to help them continue on and fight the overwhelming beast despite wanting to stop. We also help with systems and ideas, which is the fun part, but the main reason we’re called to battle is to help take down the beast.

Even with our help however, I see a lot of people struggle to let go. They want to keep a lot, thinking things like:

“It will be nice to have this when I need it someday” (Will someday come? We may never know!)

Or

“This is sentimental, I don’t think I can let go” (These items are the hardest to let go of because of the meaning we have attached to them. The truth is we usually keep way more of these items than is necessary)

Truth is, you value the things and the money more than you value the space, the  ease of access, and a pleasant looking home that brings you feelings of relief. 

That’s the opportunity cost. The extra space, making it easier to access, store, and find things. Having less is just better. Now, I’m not saying become an extreme minimalist, although there is something to that, I’m saying, reduce way more than you think you can or need. If you do need something you got rid of, then just buy another one. You may have to wait, and that sucks, but saving something for a day you might use it, just takes up valuable space, and unless you live in a mega mansion, you need to optimize the space you have.

Another option is to have your someday maybe pile. A pile or bin of stuff that you are keeping for “just in case days.” To limit the amount in there, you only get 1, maybe 2 bins. This way whenever you want to add something, something has to go. It would also be great to get in the habit of emptying them out every 6 months to a year, that way you get to start fresh, and if you haven’t used something in that amount of time, it shouldn’t be in your house. UNLESS! It’s a very expensive item like an appliance that you do use, just infrequently.

So just to reiterate, get rid of it because, for the most part, you can always buy it again, that’s the cool thing about money, it can always be re-traded for anything you want, and it’s okay to buy something again, value space, freedom, access, and relief more than you value money.

If you’re in that stuck place, or if you keep procrastinating, schedule a call with us today so we can help you take on the overwhelming beast! Call Now