How-To Begin Decluttering

Here is my 3-Phase plan to decluttering your cluttered stuff.

Phase 1
Box up everything messy in your house.
This includes any piles or drawers or stacks you have.
Label the boxes with where the stuff came from. Some of mine were labeled: from by the bed, from the large desk, kitchen stuff.
Do not start sorting at this stage!
You want your house to seem empty and spotless at this stage.


Phase 2
Move from Stage one to stage 2 quickly. It's okay to take a few days off to enjoy the emptiness of your house, but get started on Phase 2 quickly before your boxed stuff starts to migrate back out of the boxes!
Get 3 more boxes & label: Stuff I Want, Stuff to Sell, Stuff to Donate. Get a large, clean garbage can, as well.
Now get ready by spending a few to several minutes on the Unclutterer.com website to pump yourself up. When you've started to feel inspired or excited, start on your boxes. (Repeat this for every box sorting session!)
Take your boxes from Phase one and go through them, one at a time.
If you like TV, bring your 3 new boxes, your garbage can, and one unsorted box out to work on while you watch TV.
You want to put as little into your 'Stuff I Want' box as possible.
Keep only your favorite things! Keep in mind that anything you keep that is NOT your favorite will end up in front of/in the way of your favorite things and prevent you from enjoying your favorite things.


Phase 3
Be delighted with how much less stuff you have. Did you get rid of 80% or more of the boxes you started with? Rejoice.
Get inspired with Unclutterer.com!
Now go through the boxes labeled 'Stuff I Want'.
Repeat Phase 2 with these boxes, getting rid of even more stuff!
Start thinking about where each of these things will go and start putting them away.
If you have a lot of stuff that belongs together, for example: Art Supplies, designate a place, such as a drawer for this stuff.
Donate the space in your house appropriately, so that it represents the life that you want and the hobbies/ activities you most enjoy.


Beyond Phase 4
Hopefully this exercise has started you mentally uncluttering as well. You can repeat the above steps with your time, your brain, your energy, etc. I like to write down what's important to me, so that I can remember to focus on those things and in doing so, I must reject other things. Once the conscious decision is made, I don't need to look back at the paper, so I recycle it. My brain and house are clear!

SHED

This just came to me-

SHED the things that are getting in your way.

I am applying this:

first to my pain
second to my possessions
third to my excess weight

That car accident really laid me out! I'm still going to the chiropractor twice per week. I'm starting physical therapy, I still can't sleep at night due to the pain in my back, shoulder, elbow, & upper arm. I still can't pour a glass of water or pick up my laptop or ride my bike or run or swim. My PCP said I've lost muscle mass in my right arm (atrophy). I miss real exercise. Now all I can do is walk. And even that hurts my pelvis after an hour or so. It's been over 3 months, for goodness sake.

I'll keep working on it and I'll keep you posted. For now, let me just say that this week, I'm officially overweight, at 163.2 lbs. No more obesity for me! I've lost 54 lbs so far!

Andrea