More on Decluttering and Order

As you continue to declutter it becomes both easier and harder. It is easier because the results make your life more pleasant. Coming to a cleaner and less cluttered home is something to look forward to. However, soon you will come across things that you question. Do I want to keep this? Do I repurpose this?

I am slowly coming to that point. At least for one area of my home. However, floor areas that were covered in junk are slowly becoming floor areas. We also got one container to put in my walking sticks and used an antique to put the umbrellas into. Hats have found their place as well. We also use a box to put what needs to be shredded and have it done every so often at Office Depot.

This is good and necessary. This means that we are reaching the stuff we might keep. However, this does not mean we are going to keep everything. We still have a lot of room that needs clearing. So, as we consider what to keep and what goes, there are a few questions I am asking myself.

* Am I going to use it?
* Do I need it?
* Can we get a tool that does multiple roles?
* Is this widget giving me any kind of pleasure? Does it have memories attached which makes it more difficult to discard?

One of the reasons we humans collect stuff is exactly those questions. When we got a thing, whatever it happens to be, it had a function in our lives. It may be as simple as this was given to us by a parent, a friend, or a lover. But this leads to the over-cluttering we are all so familiar with. In the worst cases, this can lead to hoarding.

However, the stuff you have at home may no longer serve those functions. See the baking material I got rid of. At one time I did bake…some. Plus my mother bought all that stuff because a woman needed to know how to bake and cook. I have a gluten allergy. I have modified her chocolate chip cookies. I rarely make other cookies. But I do not bake cakes. For the most part, I have found people who sell these things, plus I lost my taste for sweet goods. So…off they went, for the most part. I kept the very few things I need to bake those cookies, whether it is the biscotti or the chocolate chip cookies. The rest already went away. We also kept the mixer, since I can use it to make other things…