Life is a journey, not a destination, and that is definitely the case for getting organized. No one is ever truly finished decluttering because, other than a few extreme minimalists, we are all constantly accumulating more things. Even for me, a person who makes her living helping others get organized, decluttering is an ongoing process.
I have been running a decluttering challenge in my free Facebook group for the last four years. It’s called FiveFiveThirty, and it will be starting up again in April (click here to join in). The rules are simple: spend five minutes a day identifying five items that you can declutter, and to repeat that process for thirty days. If you complete the challenge, by the end of the month you will have gotten rid of 150 items. I run the challenge in April and October, and I participate in it each year myself. That means I declutter 300 items from my home each year. And somehow I STILL have enough stuff to do this challenge every spring and fall!
It might seem discouraging to think about never being done getting organized, but that doesn’t need to be the case. We accept this about other household tasks like laundry or cleaning. As soon as we get all the laundry done and put away, there are dirty clothes being tossed into the hamper. As soon as we vacuum, dirt and dust starts collecting again. It’s a constant process that requires regular attention, and the fact that it’s not “finished” at any particular moment doesn’t need to weigh on us. We know those chores will be waiting when we make time to address them.
My home isn’t perfect and it won’t ever be, either. There will always be some project or task that needs to be done, and something else on the to do list. I get stressed about that sometimes, but it helps to remember that my life is constantly in flux so the things I need continue to change as well. Doing a regular decluttering twice a year is an opportunity to consider the stuff in my home and decide what is no longer serving me. I encourage you to set a regular time for this work, whether that is joining my my April challenge or simply making a recurring appointment with yourself to spend some time organizing your space. You wouldn’t ignore doing laundry for years (I hope!), so don’t ignore decluttering, either.
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Make it fab!
Carrie