I stumbled across the Marie Kondo approach on Netflix a couple of years ago now, and it was one of the pivotal moments in my search for the elusive 'contented feeling'. That was shortly followed by the Minimalists. It lead me down a path that saw me genuinely assess the items that cluttered up my house and my head.
My house wasn't always littered with crap everywhere, I had perfected the art of storing mountains of stuff in boxes or containers in every nook and cranny around the house and shed. But it got to a point where I looked around and felt suffocated. At least 3rd generation hoarder here. So it was life to me. But I made the big, bold, brave leap.
I started with my overflowing clothes. At one point I had in excess of 40, almost 50 pairs of jeans, and guess what, I wore maybe 3 of them. I had such a love hate relationship with denim, courtesy of my addiction to the gym and an every changing physique. In that initial go at decluttering this one aspect of my life, I let go of almost half those jeans. And guess what, it felt amazing and freeing!! This was a new type of high for me (as opposed to the buying something on sale, just because it was cheap). And a snowball effect started. It lead to the rest of the wardrobe and then the cookbooks and so on.
I started to become content being only surrounded by the stuff that genuinely meant something to me. But don't get me wrong, this is a daily approach and the work is needed to maintain, and I don't know if it will ever be finished as such. I'm sure crap breeds in the corners at night here. But with every item I let go of, I leave place for that contented feeling to fill.
I have since sorted through my clothes numerous times and am currently using a the Project333 approach to help somewhat organise this section of my life. Living in an area that has 4 seasons in one day, I allow myself extra items to stay in my wardrobe and not feel bad about it, as I know I genuinely need access to jumpers in the middle of summer, because, well, it's Esperance. I feel amazingly content choosing clothes each day now as I love each and every item in my wardrobe. And those waiting in the tubs to be swapped over as the weather changes, well, I love them too. I have embraced living a non-consumeristic life and it feels amazing.
My one weakness remains to be books. we all have a vice, and this seems to be mine. But even with these I have learnt to only keep the ones that I will re-read and the ones that promote that genuine sense of contentment when I hold them. I have learnt to say good bye to excess items in my life that no longer mean anything to me, or that fail to hold purpose. Even in saying that, I know it is a work in progress, and that's okay.
What I have learnt along the way since embracing this decluttering mindset is that by striving to be grateful and content with what I do have in life and being thoughtful with my purchases, I am avoiding the dreaded RUT and leaving more space within for my heart to sing or in Marie Kondo's words my surrounding environment "sparks joy" on a daily basis.
In turn, by creating an environment such as this, I have allowed myself extra throughout the day the have time to move MYSELF rather than my things.
Check the following out for some further ideas on embracing a decluttered simpler way of existing.
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