Inside: Six top decluttering myths dispelled so you can lighten your load and live a life you love. 🤍
You might find it difficult to declutter and get organized. The idea of letting go and then organizing what you deem necessary and important to keep isn’t always easy. But when you internalize and believe decluttering myths, it is made more difficult.
These myths are nothing more than noise, often born out of internal chatter, preventing you from starting the work of decluttering.
These noisy myths plant seeds of doubt and fear about your abilities to do difficult things. They create in your head a seemingly impossible path to understand the processes necessary to declutter, and a lack of confidence in taking steps to do this freeing work.
These myths feel “real,” as fear-based things often do. To lessen the fears, you must address their roots and bust the myths for good.
Six Decluttering Myths Dispelled.
1. You need a lot of time to declutter.
Belief in this myth is simply about focusing on the wrong thing.
The truth: Getting organized does take time. Most things that promise a positive benefit do. Putting the focus on how much time you need or that something will take time is simply an excuse. And that excuse puts a roadblock in your path to freeing yourself from the constraints of clutter.
Not having “enough” time or thinking you have “no time” to declutter is born more out of a fear than a reality. You fear of the unknown – where to start, what to do first, how to let go. And you want to escape figuring out where to start and what to do, and having to *do* the work.
Ultimately, you aren’t afraid of not having time.
You are afraid of what you will spend that time doing.
Decluttering is scary. You don’t see it as appealing because it involves letting go. And letting go is scary.
Yes, the idea of having “enough” time feels real, especially when you have to navigate daily life. You must finish a report for work, pick up the kids, make dinner, sign permission slips, empathize with the tears and fears and drama, and manage your life hiccups as well.
The truth is you don’t have time to remain disorganized.
Your life is waiting for you on the other side of your clutter!
Don’t focus on how much time you need. Focus on the end goal and what spending time will yield.
You’re worth it.
2. You need to have a knack for organization to be organized.
The truth: Organization is learned.
And so is how to declutter. You can learn how to do both. There isn’t some special gene you are born with. And if you aren’t born with it, you will be disorganized for life.
You have to be willing to learn. And you must believe in your ability to learn.
Not having a “knack” for organization can often be met with a lack mentality. And that mentality about what you don’t “have” leads you to self-destruction.
Believing this myth assuages your deep-seeded fear of being enough – smart enough, organized enough, and overall good enough.
You are enough.
There is no place for perfection in this work. And there is no right or wrong. There is only tapping into what you need to live a life you love, believing in your ability to learn, and starting the work.
3. You have to spend money to get organized
The truth: There are a plethora of options for building a system that don’t involve spending any money.
But if you pay more attention to your space being “picture-perfect” or Pinterest-worthy, you will buy unnecessarily. Focus instead on your space and how you want to feel in it. What are the things you need to attain that feeling?
See what you own that can be repurposed or purchase what you need to create a system.
Spending some money on effective supplies to create efficient systems is helpful. But it isn’t a requirement that it break the bank.
Ultimately, organization is less about spending and more about attaining a feeling of order and an ability to maintain order.
Focus more on keeping only what you like, need, and use. And buy what will help you support serenity and order in your space.
4. You are being wasteful if you declutter things you spent money on.
The truth: Everything has a shelf life. Some things last longer than others and continue to fill needs. Others simply do not.
It doesn’t matter how much money you spent, or for that matter, who gave it to you. What matters is whether those things fit the vision you have set for your life. Do they make sense for your space? Do they make sense for your life?
Decluttering and getting organized is about identifying the things that have meaning and purpose. And then developing systems to use those things. If you want to live a clutter-free life and experience all its benefits, you must let go of what you don’t like, need, or use.
Keeping things with no meaning or purpose – regardless of cost – is wasteful.
It wastes your time, mind, and space.
We all make mistakes and spend money on things we don’t use. But you perpetuate the mistake and waste more by keeping the items.
Be honest about what has run its course, accept the mistake you made, and let go. Let someone else who fancies it enjoy it to the fullest.
You open yourself and your space to all the possibilities to create when the weight of the guilt-ridden limiting belief is lifted.
5. You don’t need to declutter to be organized
The truth: You need to declutter if you want to build a solid foundation for organizational longevity.
If you believe this myth, you will contain and systematize clutter. If you don’t do the work to let go of the excessive and unnecessary, you will build systems on faulty ground.
Being organized is less about fancy boxes and more about what is stored in them. That is the key to building effective, long-lasting systems.
The best way to attain this is to declutter before you organize.
To clarify, you can call yourself organized without decluttering. And you can feel the positive effects. But they will be temporary.
Decluttering is the first step. When you lighten your load, and understand what you need, organizing is easier. And importantly, the systems you build are effective, efficient and long-lasting.
That benefit alone makes this precursory step worth it.
6. Decluttering makes you a minimalist.
The truth: Decluttering does not make you a minimalist any more than being organized makes you a professional organizer.
Because the word “minimalism” is scary, and quite misunderstood, believing this myth will deter you from letting go.
Minimalism is a state of mind. It is a lifestyle where you think holistically about your life and what you want in and for it. You live it by being conscious of the thoughts, things, and people that help you create a life you love.
Minimalism forces you to live with intention.
Decluttering is the act of deliberately letting go of what prevents you from creating the life you want. It is a tool to help you clear your head and home of what feels heavy, taxing, and stressful, leaving you space to “do” life easier.
Decluttering leaves you feeling more in control, prepared, and aware of what you need. And allows you to organize thoroughly and effectively.
Doing the courageous and difficult work of thinking about what serves a purpose in your life, and then letting go of what doesn’t certainly lends itself to “becoming” a minimalist.
But minimalism is not prescribed. It isn’t based on what someone else tells you it must be because of how your space looks.
It is self-described. You decide what “fits” in your life and how you want to feel. And you decide what label, if any, you want to apply to your life. You are your life architect. It is your responsibility to choose the contents that will help you create a life you love.
If in the process of decluttering you feel all the lightness that being a minimalist provides, you might find becoming a minimalist is not such a bad thing after all.
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