I come from a disorganized, hectic and hoarder family, my father accumulated every kind of stuff he thought it could be “useful". I remember he had lots of things in every corner of the house, especially unrepaired home appliances like DVD’s, TVs and stereos. He used to say that someday he would repair them and use them, but since I was a girl these things were never repaired or used at all 🙁.
I was the total opposite of my father, or at least I thought I was —I’m going to tell you later why not— I always had all my toys in perfect order, my Barbie dolls were perfectly dressed, my room was neat, and I was really happy changing my bed, nightstand, and every stuff in my room of place. I did this at least twice a month, I don’t know why I did this, but it made me feel at peace and relieved. I recently discovered with a psychologist that changing my room constantly was a sign that I wanted to change my reality. I have to admit that I wasn’t happy enough with my life because there were a lot of family troubles.
By a quirk of fate five years ago, I left my house, my husband and I moved to Medellin, this is a beautiful and small city and the second most important city in Colombia after my beloved Bogota which is the capital city. That was a completely new and exciting experience, I finally had the opportunity to have a whole house organised as I always wished, although we didn’t have all the house stuff like a washing machine, a fridge or a big bed, we had the most important thing: 💑 love and overall patience to endure each other.
Step by step we bought the necessary things for our beloved home, filling it with necessary and unnecessary things too. Almost four years ago my husband gave me a present, it was a very interesting book called 📕 The magic of tidying up by Marie Kondo 2 , and with it, I learned some valuable things that I could apply to my life. There are many topics in this book but I’m going to underline the most important fact, and it’s that you need to have the things that really ☺ spark joy in your life, for me this doesn’t apply only to material stuff, it also applies to people, relationships and things you do. At that time, decluttering my material stuff helped me to clear my mind and rethink about the things and the people that were around me.
When I started applying the things that I learned from the book, the first thing I began with was my closet because this is the most important and personal space in my house. I decided to look at every piece of my wardrobe and I asked myself if a certain garment gave me joy. It was strange in the beginning because I didn’t want to get rid of anything, but I realized that I had lots of clothes that I hadn’t used in years, and there was no point at all about keeping things that I would never use again. 🤔 Finally, I realized that I was doing the same things I used to complain about my father. I was accumulating things that were not important to me, in this case, garments. In the end, I was accumulating bad habits which didn’t help me to keep going in my life.
As I threw dozens of garments in thrash plastic bags, I felt more and more confident and relieved doing this, it was like a liberating therapy. Getting rid of unnecessary things has become a habit to me, usually once a month I dedicate one afternoon to throw things I don’t use anymore. I have to admit that in the beginning, it was really hard to change my mindset, I tried to justify every piece I owned, but over time I’m doing it better and better. I do this on a monthly basis and I am really surprised about all the things I accumulate in a short period of time, these could be carton boxes, torn clothing, chipped crockery, etc.
Another important thing I realized was the day when I got rid of lots of documents. That day I only focused on doing that, so I threw on the floor hundreds of documents and folders that were stocked in a library. I looked at every one of them, these documents were from when I was studying to be a professional Hair Stylist, I thought that maybe one day I would use them again, but deep inside I knew I would never be on that path again, because I tried many times to pursue this path but I wasn’t passionate about it. In that precise moment I told myself, Why do I still keep these documents, what’s wrong with me? 🙋🏻 I really need this change, I’m going to leave all regrets behind, I’m not going to continue to have false expectations about it because this is not what I really want to be in my life. I don’t want to be this, I want to be something I haven’t figured out yet but I’ll do one day". Certainly, it was a hard process but definitely a necessary one. Decluttering gave me a capacity of thinking carefully about the things I most enjoyed doing in my life because I was playing the same game that the majority of people play when they decide to study a certain career they don’t love, just because they want to earn more money. Money certainly helps but is not the ultimate answer!.
✍🏽I wrote this article because I wanted to share with you, my experiences about how organizing your physical stuff could help you to organize your priorities in life too. The awareness of the things I own helped me to understand who I am, what I want and what I don’t. For me clutter is a lot of noise in our lives which doesn’t allow us to hear our inner voice, so please take a break! and take the time to organize your things and your life.
Do it!
Begin with something simple, it could be a single drawer from your desk or you can begin with your closet as I do. It doesn’t matter just fucking do it!.
Organize your stuff by category
It is important to have a specific place for every item because it makes no sense to have for example your shoes all around your house. Have a special place for your shoes, for bags, medicines, etc.. This may sound redundant, but I’m sure that many of you have hundreds of stuff distributed around your house which is really hard to find because you simply don’t know where they are.
Buy a rack!
In general terms, a rack could be a lifesaver for your everyday outfits. Read more about it here: My ultimate tool for organization and outfit planning: The Garment Rack!
Take your time and relax while Decluttering
If you’re organizing your personal stuff do it preferably alone. if you are organizing things like the kitchen and common areas, you can share this time with your husband or the person you live with. For my husband and me it is an enjoyable moment where we spend time together and at the same time make our home look more beautiful. 🏡
Do your closet decluttering
If you wanna know how I declutter my closet, read: My closet organization process.
Finally, every day is for me a process of self-discovery
There are lots of things I have to get rid of yet or things that I would like to buy, but it’s important to be conscious of what is really important and useful for me in my life. Sometimes you can afford a whim but it can’t be always! don’t be a shopaholic be a smart shopper. Definitely, that’s more stylish!
Have you ever read Marie Kondo’s book? Do you have a particular way to organize your stuff? Has decluttering your things helped to you to be happier? Let me know in the comments below! 😉
