How I did it:

• First, I stopped procrastinating and got off the computer (although I kept checking in on 43things occasionally for motivation).
• I looked around my room and made a list of problem areas to clean.
• I tried to get through one area a day.

It took me a few days longer than I'd planned, because I kept finding
more and more things to sort out. This wasn't just the usual tidy-everything-out-of-sight job; I wanted to make a lasting change.

I'm glad I did take the time. Now that I've done a thorough overhaul of everything I own, my room is a much more peaceful and relaxing space to be in. I also found a lot of things I'd forgotten about or thought I'd lost, like some nice perfumes I'd been given but hadn't used yet. It was like Christmas all over again.

Lessons & tips:

• Consider how important each item is to you. I reevaluated a lot of things I'd kept for sentimental reasons in the past, and found many of them didn't hold much value to me anymore, and were just cluttering up my life. Out they went.
• Anything that has more bad memories attached to it than good, anything that makes you feel embarrassed when you look at it, anything really ugly and discordant - it has to go.
• Get rid of things that you haven't used for a year and can't see yourself using in future.
• Ask yourself if any of your unwanted things could be sold on ebay or given to charity.

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Jan 02, 2011, 06:41PM PST | 0 comments | 1 cheer