If your home is a mirror of your soul, as I shared with you in November, and everything around us reflects in one way or another what is going on inside of us, how then does living clutter-free actually look like? Let’s talk about who needs to clear clutter and what it means to live a clutter-free life.
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So this is my philosophy around living clutter-free:
The way I see living a clutter-free life does not mean that we have to create a show-room-like home, become a minimalist, or live like a Buddhist monk without possessions. Of course if that’s what you really want to do, then great, good for you!
For most of us, that’s not the right thing.
When people meet me they always think that I have a perfect home, with hardly anything in it, and spick and span clean. But no, sorry not sorry, that’s also not how I would want to live.
Growing up my mother was very particular, we were not allowed to have anything laying around, especially not in the living room or dining room. We were sent to our rooms to play and do homework, no toys, books or craft stuff allowed in the common areas.
I often felt like living in a museum, everything had its place and we were not really allowed to touch or move things. Our home looked neat and clean but also like nobody was living here. All the evidence of children living there had to be put away and be hidden. This might be awesome for a photo shoot of your home but it doesn’t make for a comfortable home base or a sanctuary as I see my home.
That’s one extreme of the spectrum and then the other would be where everything is laying around and is piled up. Where you can’t sit down anywhere because the chairs are full of clothes, laundry or other stuff. Where the tables and every surface in the home is covered with stuff, where nothing is put away and you trip over things. That’s also not my idea of a comfortable home.
So a clutter-free home lies somewhere in between but like so many things, it is very personal and depends on you and your lifestyle.
What’s your lifestyle?
My idea of a clutter-free home is that we find the right balance for our life. Not so many things that you feel overwhelmed, weighed down and stressed, and also not so few things that you can’t do what you want and need to do in your life (like spending time doing crafts with your children).
It’s also a home that represents what is important to you, the lifestyle you want to live.
For example: I live on acreage with horses, chickens, dogs and cats. This lifestyle requires certain items that I need to have and want to have, like saddles and tack, cleaning brushes etc for the horses, buckets, wheelbarrows, pitch forks in the yard and at the barn etc. If my idea of a clutter-free life would be little to no items, then I couldn’t live this lifestyle I so love and enjoy to live.
What then makes a home cluttered or clutter-free?
To answer that we have to define and talk about what physical clutter is, here is how I see it: Clutter is
1) things we don’t use or love and
2) things that are chaotic and unorganized
It’s also clutter when we have
3) too many things for the size of our home
4) unfinished and/or broken things
That unfinished and broken things are clutter surprises many people. But things that we leave unfinished (like craft projects) or things that are broken and we don’t fix within a reasonable period of time means we can’t use them and we must not love them, therefore it’s clutter.
Living a clutter-free life is getting really clear on what you love in your life and home and why, and then prioritizing that.
For me what I love is living with animals on acreage so I make sure that I create and have space for all the items that come with this lifestyle, But at the same time I also make sure that I
- only have the items that I actually love and use,
- make sure they are clean and in good shape, ready to be used
- keep them in working order or if they break I get them fixed right away (or I let them go)
- store them in an organized way so I can easily find them and that it’s easy to put them back where they belong
Of course, this is sometimes easier said than done depending on what’s going on in our life. I am not perfect, nor would I want to be. Yes, even I have at times too many things in certain areas, items that are not all perfectly tidy and organized, some items that I love less and don’t use as much ….
We are not trying to be perfect, we are creating awareness and a supportive environment, this is an ongoing process and requires awareness and taking action.
Remembering that things have a certain life span, that there is a time we use them and are interested in them. But when that time is over, and we move on to other interests, it’s time to let those items go.
It is about keeping your environment up-to-date with what is important in your life right now, making room for it and letting go of the rest. If you hang on to everything from your past, there is no room for something new, you are held back and can’t spread your wings.
This is deep work, it has to do with self-development and self-reflection.
You really have to examine your thoughts and your feelings around those items and why you can’t let them go even though you don’t love and use them anymore. The items are only ever a representation of something deeper that is going on.
Often it helps if we don’t have to do that process alone, if we don’t have to face those thoughts and feelings alone and don’t have to make the decisions alone. Someone on the outside can sometimes see things clearer than we do in the moment. That’s where someone like me, a clutter clearing practitioner and coach, comes in and helps you work and think through these decisions.
In summary, it’s about balance
A clutter-free home is finding the right balance for us and our lifestyle. It’s not about getting rid of as much as possible, but it’s also not about keeping all the stuff indefinitely.
Get clear on what is important to you, what you want to spend your time, energy and money on, and then let go of the other stuff.
We do that all by remembering that, a few minutes a day keeps the chaos away.
CONNY GRAF
Conny Graf is a Swiss certified Expert in Finance & Accounting, a certified Clutter Clearing Practitioner, Astrologer, Coach, Podcaster and the founder and owner of From Chaos to Peace Consulting Inc.
She’s helping people create supportive, clutter-free environments in their home, office, files, and finances but more importantly, she helps them develop habits and systems that prevent clutter from creeping back in. Clutter Clearing is not just about purging and organizing, it’s about exploring and releasing the limiting beliefs we tell ourselves and the stories that keep us stuck in the past. Dealing with clutter brings us up-to-date with who we are right now and where we are heading in your life and business while being organized is simply a side-effect.
Her mission is to help people understand that decluttering is self-love, and a few minutes a day keep the clutter away. Come on a journey from chaos to peace with ease.
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