Motivation to Declutter

Sometimes in life we need motivation to do unpleasant tasks. Decluttering is the task of discussion in this blog. The procrastination bug keeps us from doing this type of thing on a regular basis. There are some situations that can really get the motivation factor from 0-10 pretty quickly. 

1. Having a flood or construction type work being done on your home. I can think of many of my clients that have been motivated by this situation. A few were related to home renovations while others dealt with flooding in their basements. I will say that flooding is one of the best motivators to get people to let go of their stuff. Once it gets wet, mold becomes a concern as well as fragility of the item because it was so wet. Purging comes with much ease. When this type of situation occurs you are most likely caught by surprise. A couple of things to think about is the need for remediation, the clean up of the water and proper drying out along with any necessary mold treatment. It is highly probable you will need a trash receptacle bigger than what you normally use, hence the need for a dumpster.  For home renovation situations, it feels more like you are moving. However, this is a good time to determine if you have anything you can let go of. Do you need 3 can openers? Will you use that thermos that is in the back of the cabinet? Asking these questions will allow you to be more discriminant in deciding what will be in the newly renovated space. 
2. Moving is always a good motivator. I like to look to the military families as good role models because they move so much. I believe they have mastered the skill of letting go which allows them to take less with them. Moving can be expensive and one way to save money is to move less items.  Thinks about it this way, if you move less, you unpack less! If you have advanced knowledge of your move date, start the declutter process at least 3 months before. As the date gets closer, something in the brain starts to say, “we don’t need this” or “ let’s just get rid of it.” Powerful motivator, right?
3. House guests are coming. We’ve all faced that impetus of running around at the last minute to get the sheets washed for the guest bed and the bathroom cleaned! This is the last minute rush for overnight guests. What if you could put together a guest bin that has the clean bedding, fresh towels, soap and shampoo that stays in the closet? It would be a lot less stressful but probably not as fun. How would you get your adrenaline going? Now, this works for the overnight guests but what about the guests that come over for dinner? You know you are running around cleaning bathrooms, stashing stuff away that was laying out? Am I right? Just a thought, how about cleaning the bathroom especially if it’s on the main floor on a regular basis and making sure it stocked with the essentials of toilet paper, hand towel and soap? This way it is only taking just a few minutes to maintain. Another thought, keep the main living area to a minimum of stuff? Would that make it less to keep up with? Yes, it would. However, the adrenaline gets going or you start yelling at everyone around you to help get the house ready for guests. Motivator?
4. Life changes. These are the big ones that really change your life. A marriage, divorce, birth or death really can motivate the declutter process. Whether it’s happy or note, emotion triggers action for some of us.
   • Marriage: making space for your partner or combining your stuff and the spouse’s stuff into one place causes the need for conversation about how many sets of dishes do we need and who is going to donate their set.
   • Divorce: dividing up to break up as part of the settlement. This is a form of decluttering. You may even have a deadline that is part of the divorce which also promotes decluttering.
   • Birth: there is time to prepare leading up to the birth. However, the final days can bring chaos and clutter. Keeping decluttered as the pregnancy grows along could allow you more time to rest and relax before the little one arrives. That’s motivation!
   • Death: definitely the hardest of the motivators. So much has to deal with emotion. Cleaning out someone else’s home is all of that. Every single items goes. It will be trash, donated or given to family members. Death of one who lives with you is very different. There is less motivation to purge their stuff and that is completely normal. There is no need to rush this, it is an individual choice to decide when to let go of their belongings. It might be helpful to you to offer your other loved ones the opportunity to choose something to remember this person by. This allows the items to go to a good home right away. Motivation will come in time.
5. Health issues can be a good motivator to clear out clutter:
   • Walking or other mobility issues and vision impairment means that ALL walkways including stairs should be free of stuff to prevent falls. 
   • Breathing issues need less stuff to cut down on dust. This means ALL cardboard boxes should be purged. 
   • Fatigue issues due to illness make it difficult to maintain optimal organization. Less stuff = less need to declutter.
   • If you are physically unable to declutter and organize, a Professional Organizer is a good resource to utilize. 

Organizing can only happen once you’ve decluttered. Without decluttering you are just moving stuff to clutter keepers such as bins.  Life can really give us some challenges which can be the motivation to do the decluttering we never did. Just writing about these will hopefully give you a little motivation to tackle the clutter before you end up in one of these situations.