We hear this word so many times. De-clutter. Declutter your storage closet, declutter your garage, declutter your basement bla, bla, bla. Your bff is doing it, your neighbour is doing it, and the girls in the office even have this thing going on to see who can get it done first.  What on earth is all the hype about with this decluttering anyway and why is it vitally important to my wellbeing?

The answers to these questions will astound you!

Let’s first look at the definition of this before we move ahead.

Declutter- to simplify or get rid of mess, disorder, complications.  To remove mess or clutter from a (place). ~Dictionary.com~

Pretty straight forward, yes? Translated even further it means “get rid of the shit that’s piling up in your place” OR my favorite personal definition “to stop being an emotional junk hoarder and toss your crap out”.  Emotional junk hoarder. Did you catch that? We hang on to stuff because it means something or at one time it really did mean something and we can’t bear to part with it. This stuff includes:

• old letters from boyfriends (oh ya, why oh why do we keep these anyway??)
• little trinkets from  deceased Auntie Gertrude (even though they have no monetary value)
• cd’s, cassette tapes, record albums, etc. (you get the idea)
• those bags of clothes from when we were a size 0 because one day they will fit again (what?)
• books and magazines that we had from our first apartment (um… ok?)

You see where I’m going with this, and this is just a teeny example of things we hang to. Watch an episode of Hoarders () and you’ll get a better idea.

Ok, so now that I’ve defined it in plain English, let’s have a look at my top five reasons why it is imperative you do this for your sanity.

1. Negative energy – Most clutter happens to be in a room with the door closed so no one sees it. You know it’s there. Everyone in the house knows it’s there but no one speaks of it. It’s the taboo room. The spare room. Isn’t that why we have that extra room in the house anyway?  Remember one very important thing. Everything has energy, either positive or negative.  Which one would you like more of? That’s what I thought.

 

2. Make room for auspicious opportunities. – We always want better things to flow into our lives but if your life is already clogged up with *stuff*, there is no more room! For example, you would really love some new clients for your business but your desk is always SO FULL of papers and old files and garbage. There is no room for new clients!

3. Move forward already – You are hanging onto to old letters from your ex John/Jane. A huge box of letters, cards, trinkets etc. Many boxes, many things. Why? Really. Why? He/she is not coming back nor do you want them back anyway. It’s over, you got hurt. He’s a jerk. She’s a bitch. Let it go! Move on.  Are you going to keep opening those boxes to reread all the old love letters? Do you love tormenting yourself? Really! Stop. It’s really not good for your mental health. Trust me on this one.

4. Make money! – Who doesn’t love or want more money? All that stuff you got piling up in your spare room/garage/attic could turn into hundreds, heck maybe even thousands of dollars for you! I bet if you gathered it all up and sold it, you could have money for a little vacation.  Or maybe you could open a little savings account or take a friend to dinner and the movies, pay off a little debt, my gosh the possibilities are endless!!

5. Get this monkey off my back! –  The monkey has a name. His name is *Clutter*. He’s annoying as hell. He sits on your back and every now and then he’ll poke you. Not a gentle poke, but a real hard poke that makes you say “OUCH” quite loudly. That poke just so happens to come exactly when you are walking by the *taboo room*/the garage/the storage room, etc. And then he laughs at you. He’s pointing and laughing hysterically at you because he knows you aren’t going to do a damn thing about that mess. Haven’t you had enough of this little brat?  You know his constant taunting wreaks havoc on your stress level. Oh yes it does.  You walk a little heavier because he weighs a ton. Yup.

Holding on to clutter is paralyzing.  It’s hard to move forward in a healthy positive way with all that negative weight tying you down. De-cluttering is not easy to do but once it’s done, the feeling is exhilarating! Once you change the way you think about it, and get it done, you can watch your life unfold in magical ways.

How to start? Set a time and date on your calendar, like you would a Doctor’s appointment and commit to it. When the day arrives, put on some music, grab your favorite beverage and away you go. Call a friend over to help or for emotional support.

Once you get started, time will fly by and you’ll see how hard it is to stop!