Bye bye mess stress: Tackling the biggest mess

Some time ago I published a blog post on a blog that is no longer available, where I talked about my process of getting rid of the mess in my home. Going through the third big round of decluttering at this very moment, I found that it is a topic I would like to share more of. Because I come across a whole lot of people that go through a similar process or wish they were able to do so. Please know, this is my personal process and my personal choice of living. I do not pretend to live a better life than anyone else. I just happen to be happier with very little stuff around me and know there are more people feeling this way. So here is my story, about the first round of decluttering I did, the biggest of the three rounds.

 

Dealing with a huge mess


When my dear great-aunt died, my mum was the one who had to go through all the stuff she had left behind and sell the house. I remember my mum going to the house again and again. Watching the whole process my mum went through changed something in me. I realised I didn't want anyone have to deal with my stuff when I'm no longer here. Seeing the complete mess that I had accumulated I knew I had a huge task ahead of me.
 

 

Getting sick of the mess 

 

 As creatives, craft supplies can really pile up. We have too much things that might come in handy, like somewhere in the future. But a lot of them never do. Do they? I am not one to easily throw things out of the house. I'm a gatherer by nature. Not so much the new and shiny stuff. I'm more like a gatherer of things broken and weathered that could be repaired or reused, and things I find on nature walks and beach combs.

Watching my mum having to deal with the stuff left behind by my great-aunt and seeing the complete mess I was in myself, I decided that it was enough. If you can do climbing games on the piles of mess, you know it is definitely time to declutter. I was so fed up with the piles of what-not's and I-totally-need-that's, which were quite frankly not doing anything for me at all. It was literally making me sick. And with all the creative mess around me I found that it actually hindered me in stead of motivated me to get creative. To be honest, I think I spent more time "feeling creative" by scrolling through pinterest than by actually being creative. Plus, the mess wasn't motivating to finish the many works-in-progress (WIP's) that were somewhere in those piles. Wherever that somewhere was supposed to be.

And quite frankly, it was not just the crafting space that was cluttered. Everything was, including my mind.

Could I ever get to the point that my living space was clean and organised? That it would be a place where I could actually breathe and feel peace? As a gatherer-by-nature (I don't like the term hoarder, it sounds so negative to me) the task looked daunting and huge. Too huge to tackle. But I so wished a peaceful and mess-free living space, that I made an agreement with myself. By the way, the spaces you share with others, that's different than dealing with just your own stuff and not something I will discuss here. In this blog post I'm only focussing on my own stuff.

Agreement with myself

Every day I would go through at least one bag, one box, one little corner, one drawer, or one shelf. I would sort all the stuff from that bag, box - or whatever I chose for that day - into three little piles:

1)  Keep: the things that I needed or that I really wished to keep in my life

2)  Still okay to use, but just not by me

3)  Garbage

The only things that I kept were the ones of the first category. The things of the second category I would give away or bring to a thrift store. For a while this process meant that the mess in my living space was getting worse and worse. But it became a more organised mess. A mess of sorted piles. And after a while I could move the keepers to empty drawers and shelves.

I read a couple of articles and books stating that it would be better to deal with the mess in one big project. Get rid of it in one go or else you risk that it will become cluttered again very easily. Well, yes and no. The mess we're talking about here was so huge and so utterly unorganised, that the task would be too huge if I would tackle it in one go. It would have meant that I would just have to throw everything out without having to go through the pieces one by one, and start all over. Which I think is not only wasteful but I knew I would regret this later. So I stuck to a process of doing little steps every day but very consistently.

I have to be honest with you though. Although I was decluttering very rigorously, I now know that I saved a whole lot of stuff that I could not part with this time. But that didn't serve any purpose other than filling up space and collecting dust. A lot of these were things that had to do with experiences from the past, things with mental clutter attached to them.

Here's what kept me going

1)  I took photos of the process

2)  Every now and then I would give myself a little treat, but not one that would mean more clutter!

3)  Friends and family that cheered me on and felt inspired by my decluttering

4)  I kept to my promise to myself: one little bag or box or such a day

By taking photos during the process of decluttering, I began to see that my efforts really began to pay off. The mess first became more organised in piles, and then the piles began to shrink and diminish. This gave me a big boost of renewed energy to go on! It helped me stick to my plan and joyfully tackle my daily portion of mess to be uncluttered.

By making a promise to myself to declutter one box or such a day, the workload was not too bad. Every day a little bit is doable. Everything at once is too big a project for me to finish.

And then family and friends began to ask me to help them out with their wish to declutter. This was such a bonus to my own process! I loved seeing them getting enthusiastic and actually take on their own decluttering processes.

The result

After a few months of work I was done. The mess was gone! And I haven't looked back since. Instead, I continued with two major decluttering processes later on. It is so much easier to keep it all clean and organised now and decluttering even further is so much easier too. No more mess-stress. Hello breathing space!

I still have enough craft supplies left, and enough saved and gathered pieces that wait to be used in art projects. There is no need to get rid of it all. But you can't possibly keep everything you think you might need or use one day. I only kept the things I am certain about that I will use them. And if it turns out this will not be the case, then that's my call to get rid of them right then and there! The stuff that is left is now neatly organised in boxes that can easily be moved around if need may be.


How about you?

Do you feel the need to declutter?

How is your decluttering process like? How do you go about it?

Please share your tips for anyone who wishes to declutter in the comments below!

If you have the wish to declutter, but don't know where to start, may be the tips in this post (and hopefully in the comments too) can help you. I really hope so!

Your turn

If you don't feel a need to declutter, then please ignore this part of my blog post. If you do feel the need, but don't know where to start, may be this could be of any help to you:

*  Take one bag or box, shelf or drawer today and go through the stuff.

*  When deciding if something needs to be kept, ask yourself: Do I need it? Do I really use it? Do I like keeping it?

*  If you notice that you can't decide, you could either put it away for now, or if you feel like it ask yourself why you are holding on to that particular thing. Does it really serve you any purpose? Or are there deeper reasons why you hesitate to let go of it, like shame or fear or the sense that it is wasteful or it might come in handy in the future (really? don't fool yourself here!)?

*  Be content, happy, and proud of yourself that you decluttered.

*  Promise yourself to do this every day. Just one box. Or one bag. Stick to it. You can do it.



Wishing you a beautiful and peaceful day!

And if you are going through a process of decluttering or would like to get started with it, I wish you good luck and don't forget to enjoy watching the progress you make.

xx