Week 1 of Basic Training: Purging and Letting Go
- Juliette Ries
- Oct 8, 2016
- 3 min read
Did you make your list?
If yes, great, let's move on. If not, then read my previous post.
If you are like me, then you find it hard to focus when there is clutter about. One of the "stages" I feel like I've gone through is minimalism. I guess it no longer is
a stage, but rather a part of me that I strive for. I don't know when it happened but it was sometime after my father passed away. Or maybe more when I came to terms with the fact that he had passed. I was holding onto such weird things of his. I don't know how I ended up with the odd-ball stuff that I did, but I did. I kept all his vitamin and supplement bottles (because he had written on them so his handwriting was there), his hearing aids, all his shirts and jackets. I can understand the shirts and jackets maybe more than the other stuff, right? What am I going to do with hearing aids, and old expired pill bottles; I don't know but I held onto them for years. Around that same time, I abruptly left a very toxic relationship and I ended up packing just 2 suitcases of my belongings and leaving, never returning for the rest of my belongings. I had also moved around a bunch of times in a small amount of time and had to leave things behind. Never thought about those things again. I think those events taught me that noTHING materialistically was so great that I couldn't live without it. I liked not having attachments to THINGS. The most important things in life are the people in them and our experiences.
So I say this first week of rejuvenation and journey to health should involve getting rid of anything that is taking up space in your life that you don't need or that is negatively affecting you moving forward.
Realistically who wears everything that they own in their closet? Who uses every single utensil or cooking-ware they have sitting in their kitchen drawer? Maybe you have some makeup that is expired or unused. Got a ton of books you don't need to re-read? Everything has a place right? If it doesn't then maybe you can get rid of it. Haven't looked at it in a while or hanging onto something because you swear there's some awesome project you can make out of it someday? I've been there. I feel like I am constantly purging. I just keep reminding myself that I will die someday and I don't want anybody to have to deal with all this crap of mine.
Fast forward to my present life and I am neck deep in other people's belongings. My kids have grandmas that spoil them beyond neccessary needs. Name it, my children own it. My 12 year old daughter has tons beautiful clothes but she'd rather wear things I've handed down to her or the same pair of her fave pants. We have a foyer full of storage bins that are either garage sale items or donations and on a weekly basis we deep clean their rooms and purge.
Some tips on how to purge:
Start with a room or section in a room.
Don't spend more than a couple hours working on it or you'll burn yourself out.
Have a garbage bin or bag(s) for trash and a tote bin or 2 for donations and/or garage sale stuff.
Step back from the things and ask yourself how how you'd miss it if you never saw it again. Do you use it, need it, love it? Think about the space it will open up just by getting rid of it and how much cleaner the space will be. Think about someone who could actually use it.
If you need more help or advice, or have any advice, email me or leave me a message below. I would love to help and hear from you.
Good luck this week, stay focused.