What a 31 day declutter taught me...

About being uncomfortable and enough...

Hi all

How’s your Sunday? We are just settling back in after a trip to Centre Parcs (the magical forrest). While we were there, I wrote a little personal set of reflections on my 30 days of decluttering in October.

A huge thanks to

Suzy Walker

who launched a decluttering challenge inspired by ‘The Minimalists’ last month.

I joined in and I felt (internally) top of the class. I also felt lots of other things.

You can read more on the challenge wrap up here;

11 questions to ask after 31 days of decluttering.

Why?

Ok, so I LOVE to declutter. I adored The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, can’t get enough of the UK TV show Sort your Life Out. I love to organise, just love it. It has a start and finish. It’s not endless like my work or parenting. I can feel accomplished by opening and closing a drawer and connecting to decisions made in-between. I’ve always loved it.

Why now?

My daughter is nearly four.

I pivoted by business while she was in my womb and set a new intention (and set-up nine income streams) to support us. In that time, decluttering has fallen to the bottom of the ‘to-do’ list and many many things have entered our home.

How?

Suzy gave us the option to follow the framework of finding 1 thing to ‘declutter; on the first day of the month. Onto 2 on the second, etc etc all the way to day 31 with 31 things bagged up ready for donation. I liked it as a formula, it felt easy.

What kind of stuff?

Paperwork, coats, kids stuff, kids clothes, things like 6 pairs of waterproofs in different sizes, cuddly toys, jigsaws, stationary - 101 tiny elastic bands, 6 popped footballs, a tipi worth over £1500 - still not sure about what’s happening with that one, socks with holes in them, old medication, bits of broken things, old padded envelopes (there were 10s of them), herbs and spices.

🖇️

What happened?

Guys, I met a past version of myself and I felt so so sorry for her.

She held onto so much ‘just in case’. She felt like there wasn’t enough and there would never be enough. She drowned in extra things she didn’t need and didn’t even like. She kept things that made no sense in a three bedroom cottage.

I also found 6 cushion covers zipped into one. I didn’t like any of them. I’ve got no idea why I kept them other than ‘just in case’.

I also kept things that helped her to feel accomplished like old workbooks, reports written by academics more intelligent than me.

There was jewellery I would never wear. Shelves and shelves of kids books - we could actually open our own library. Some of those we parted with, there’s more work to do when the time’s right.

And how I felt?

I felt embarrassed at first and then relieved. Relieved I was making space, relieved I could see the wood for the trees and feel what was important to keep.

I felt expansive and excited and I wondered how I could keep up the momentum of clearing out more regularly. I connected to the gifts I was giving to others.

I made a promise to myself

I’ll keep nudging away at things we don’t need, I’ll bring and accept less things, I’ll keep the spaciousness I’ve created. That’s where the joy lives.

I’ll not feel uncomfortable about the huge gifts the kids get because in a handful of years they’ll be ready to let go.

Have you decluttered recently? What felt good about it for you? I’m going to do this again in March I think… join in with me?

Claire

✨

PS - Writers who write on the topic of making space;

Sophie Ingleby

, Hannah Bullivant and

Jessica Rose Williams