159 | Intentionally Deciding to Keep, Toss, or Donate will Make Decluttering Easier

Are you procrastinating a big decluttering project or telling people that you want to get organized? You plan to get organized. Start an organizing project. But for some reason you haven’t really started yet. I’m about to challenge you to stop with the excuses and get going already on this episode, I’m busting a myth that organizers make you get rid of everything or get rid of most of your belongings to have an organized home.

Clutter is common. 80% of the items in our homes are actually not used. That’s a statistics that I’ve shared before. We know that information around here. It’s alarming. Every time I say it. When you think about 80% of the items in your home are something that you do not use. Why are we keeping 80% of the stuff? Why are we keeping so much stuff? If it’s not being [00:02:00] used, if we’re never touching it or doing anything with it, if you’re telling yourself that you want a friend to help you organize.

Or you might even have hired a professional organizer to help. I usually am all here for it. That can be super helpful. The sooner you get through the three steps, the decluttering, the organizing, and the setting up systems and routines. That means the sooner you get to a simplified home, that you can maintain easier.

You want to get to that angle as quick as possible, but you don’t want to take any shortcuts. You want to make sure you do a thorough job with the decluttering that you organized properly so that everything functions the best way it possibly can. And you want to set up those a solid routines that will truly simplify everything.

The sooner you do that, the sooner you will be living a more simplified life that lets you do more things you actually want to be doing. But when I heard the question that came in. For today’s episode. I’m not sure if it’s an honest concern. Or kind of like a crutch, just maybe an excuse to keep procrastinating and this a purging process or not get going with it. So here’s the question that came in. It says.

I’m thinking about asking a friend or even hiring an organizer to help me deal with clutter. But I’m worried that they will make me toss everything that I want to keep any suggestions on how to deal with this situation. The answer that I’m going to give for this is. I have to call it, like I see it.

With this question in particular. I’m going to be really straightforward and direct. This seems like an excuse. It’s just another excuse to actually not get to work and clear the clutter. I can’t speak for this specific person and I can’t speak before. Your specific friend that you are having help [00:04:00] you or the organizer that.

Might tell you to get rid of everything. But I can tell you that in general, organizers don’t want you to get rid of everything that has never been part of professional organizing. They are not going to pressure you to get rid of everything, or even to get rid of more than you want to more than you feel comfortable with, but they will help you make decisions and give you the information you need to make a well-informed decision.

That’s why you hired them. That’s what you’re paying them for. You want to make an intentional decision about what you donate. Donate what you’re going to toss or what you decided to keep in your home. Professional organizers help you decide what you love and how those things are different from the things that you’re keeping out of obligation or you’re keeping because you have guilt around getting rid of them.

On episode 59, I share a lot of the ideas on how to actually go about the de-cluttering process, how to decide for yourself, what should stay in your home? What is something that you might use? What is something that you’re using? What is something that is important and how to make the decisions on what you can confidently get rid of?

That is the same idea behind what every organizer does. A good professional organizer is not going to make you get rid of anything. I’ve never heard of that. So that’s where I come up with the idea that this seems more like an excuse, more like a crutch. For you to not get going and for you to not start, if you have the means to do it, hiring a professional organizer is awesome.

It will get you through the decluttering and the organizing parts of the project so that you can move on to the routines and creating those systems and routines. At a faster pace. So if you can do that, if you have a friend that is excellent. At the purging part of [00:06:00] this. That’s great to have them help you where they can, but no one should be making you feel like you should have to get rid of thing is remember we don’t use 80% of the items in our homes.

So you should have a lot to get rid of if you have been collecting things and not purging. Every so often then you will have a lot of things that you can get rid of, but you should be able to get rid of them with confidence. And if you listen to episode 59, it will help you figure that out so that you can release that guilt and not feel guilt and confidently donate the items that can go to someone else.

And. Toss the items that are broken or that are not appropriate to donate and keep the items that truly serve you. And then you spend your effort on organizing those items that you’ve decided to keep. So make sure you listen to episode 59, that would be something good to listen to before you decide if you’re going to get a friend or hire an organizer to help you and see how you feel about it after you listened to that episode.

Another thing. That is a great thing. For a resource episode, 156. On that episode, I share the 2020 rule and I teach you what that is. How that rule works, how to use it in decluttering projects. And I also use the 2020 rule in the 10 day practical purging project challenge. That is available for free. It’s a PDF download that you can click on the link in the podcast description and get that. And then a follow the 10 day challenge for.

10 different purging projects. One each day that will take you about 15 to 20 minutes. It’s completely free and it’s easy for you to follow and get more information on how to declutter properly. stick to that challenge so that you can have those small wins in a very small amount of time each day for 10 days. That’s also a good starting point. See how you feel after doing that.

That’s [00:08:00] available to you. Episode 59 episode 156. If you are struggling with purging and decluttering, but you truly desire an organized home. Remember that when you make intentional decisions, there is not guilt around getting rid of things, but instead it’s a feeling, a freeing feeling, almost a liberating feeling to get your life back, to get your home in order to get your time back. So that you feel good and you have more time for the things that matter to you in a organized orderly tidy home