WEEK 21 & 22 SYL CHALLENGE: DE-CLUTTERING

So, I haven’t posted for a little while about the Simplify Your Life Challenge, because the last few challenges were dealing with things that I felt I already have under control.

So, this next module that we’re heading into is about de-cluttering our lives; getting rid of the ‘stuff’ that is congesting our homes and our lives.

Time for a big clean out!

Now, I love a good clean out.  I do them on a regular basis (like every six months).  I hire in a skip and we just toss the shit we don’t need, or do a ‘charity run’, as we like to call it, and take the things we don’t use anymore to someone that will appreciate it.

It’s amazing how much stuff you really find yourself not needing.

When Charlie and I first moved in together nearly eleven years ago, we had two houses to cram into one little eleven square house in Broadford.  Yep; you read right.  Eleven squares.

We had so much shit, that it wasn’t funny, and I will point out, that most of that ‘shit’ was Charlie’s. 

I’m not a hoarder.  If I haven’t used it or worn it in six months, it’s gone.  The end.  Charlie’s the extreme opposite.

When we moved from Broadford to Tooborac, we took ten trailer loads of stuff to charity.  TEN.  And that was after having a friggin garage sale, too!  TEN!

Charlie was nearly crying.  He just looked at all of this stuff and said ‘I’ve paid for all of this! I’ve worked hard for it all, and we’re just giving it away!’  You can imagine how hard it was to explain that we just don’t need it all.  Let’s forget that my tastes were completely different than his ex-wife’s (I had taste; she clearly did not), so why store so much crap.  You just don’t need it all.

Nearly eleven years later, I swear we’re still getting rid of that shit from the garage!  Seriously!  The garage is Charlie’s domain, and the house is mine.  Needless to say, the house only has things in it that we need and use, and the garage is full of shit.

So, back to the SYL Challenge. 

The challenge for Week 21 was to conduct a ‘Home Audit’.  Go through your house and look at all the annoying little things that need your attention, but you’ve been putting off.  Little jobs that will only take twenty minutes, but might cost $20, and you can’t be bothered with it.

So, I printed out the Home Audit sheet from the SYL website, and off I went.  I was surprised how many little things I needed to do. 

For example, the playstation and wii games in the back room are in cane boxes, and are a shambles.  They shit me.  I need to buy stackable boxes to make them look a bit neater, and tidy up the messy area that they’re in.  Will cost me about $40 and take ten minutes, but I’ve been putting it off since forever.

Things like that were everywhere in the house, and before I knew it, I’d written a page and a half of little bits of shit that I need to do, like getting rid of the old satellite modem that’s been sitting on my desk, unused, for two years.  It’s about the size of my fucking handbag, and needs to go. 

So, over the next however long, I’m going to focus on this list, and knock things over one at a time; tidy up my home. :D

The challenge for Week 22 travels along the same lines as the Home Audit, however, we are required to go through our house, room by room, and assess the things that we keep.

Do we really need what we have in there?  Is there just a heap of clutter that we’re clinging to for a particular reason?  Is it because someone gave it to you? You thought you would use it but don’t? You used it in the past, but don’t anymore? Is it precious because of past experiences? Are they clothes that don’t fit anymore, but you’re hanging on to them just in case you lose/gain weight?  Have we dropped the ‘craft’ bug, but hang on to our supplies ‘just in case’?  Do you really need that pile of magazines on home renovations, when your reno’s finished four years ago?

This challenge brings me back to what I was talking about earlier in this blog.  If I haven’t used it or worn it in six months; it’s gone. 

Deb, the creator of SYL, suggests that we need to imagine that we were moving house; what would be keep and what would we get rid of?

Having moved house several times myself, the first thing I learnt is that you de-clutter and get rid of the crap before you move.  That not only saves you time packing and unpacking necessary crap, or having to store shit that you really don’t need, but it saves you money in the cost of boxes and removalists.  The more work they do, the more it costs you.

I live my life as if I’m going to move again soon.  Every six months, I go through the house and toss or give away the stuff we simply don’t need.  Clothing is usually my main target.  Cookware or utensils that I don’t use anymore, books, magazines, crafts… and so it goes on.  Nothing like a good clean out.

A little while ago, Charlie was complaining about there not being enough room in the garage/shed, and that he may have to build an extension on it.

‘If you got rid of half the shit in there, you’d be astonished at how much room you would have.’ I said one day.  I went through the shelving and boxes with him (bashing our way through the huntsman’s as we went!), and stuck stickers on the boxes and stuff he could get rid off.  A few trips to charity and dump bins later, he had more room than he realised.

He just needed to de-clutter.

So these two challenges are something that I incorporate into my life as it is, but the Home Audit is something that I can certainly work with to carry out some more specific tidying up.

It’s funny; no matter how neat and clean your house is, there is always something about it that pisses you off, and if you just attack the problem (like my playstation and wii games), it’s done, and you can move on.

In other cases, we’re just clinging to things for emotional reasons, and by getting rid of this stuff, we’re release its hold on us, and our hold on the past, therefore freeing us to move forward.

It’s just a matter of defining what’s important (realistically) and what’s not. 

What’s holding you back?

Just feel the fear, and do it anyway.

Peace out.