How to have nothing in my house that I do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful by she's afraid of the light in the dark

"It was liberating and fulfilling at the same time."

How I did it: First, I'd completed the 100 things challenge before, and partially applied this to my house. During this process, I had sorted through a lot of my personal possessions trying to determine what I really needed, and keeping things that I didn't need only if they were personally beautiful. This meant getting rid of a lot of "personal" items that were really just gifts that I didn't feel much towards.

I spent a lot of time on clearing out and purging before I even got to clutter. I wanted to assess the items I owned, and whether I really needed them. I used the words "1. Gather everything in one place 2. Identify the essential 3. Eliminate everything else". This helped tremendously. I thought why I kept things, how often I used them, and so on, but it was easier to pick out first what was ESSENTIAL, then looking at all the other things and thinking of them as to be thrown out by default, only keeping them if I had good reason.

After I'd gotten rid of a lot of things, I made sure to eliminate clutter, have good filing systems for the necessary, and make sure the house was tidy. I don't have that much, but clutter easily ruins a beautiful room, so I tried to start habits that were productive and useful for this goal, like making the bed daily.

It was a long process that started well before the 2 month period, but that was when I first focused on it- prior to that I'd focused on minimalism. Now, it will be a constant process, but mainly one of making good choices, and only letting things in that are useful (and getting rid of the old), or truly beautiful and warming to my heart when I see them.


 

Jun 27, 2011, 06:00AM PDT | 3 comments | 14 cheers


Comments:

Carla Ensink

Great job!

I also would like to do this. I have many things that I don’t love but that I keep anyway because they were given to me by people I care about, or because I paid ‘good money’ for them. It is hard to let go!

You have inspired me to start working on this again myself. Thanks!

Jun 27, 2011, 08:36AM PDT | Thread | Respond to this 1 cheer

she's afraid of the light in the dark is studying intensely.

you're welcome!

I’m glad I could inspire you. If you have trouble along the way, I suggest putting things in a box and sticking it in the back of the closet. If you don’t think about or need that item for several months, then you can get rid of it!

Try to also think of items in terms of emotional drain – how much effort to keep this item clean, how much room to store it, how much would it cost to move, how much guilt do you feel when you see it, etc. Weigh the benefits of ridding yourself of that against keeping the item, and it’ll help.

Best of luck!

Jun 27, 2011, 06:21PM PDT | Thread | Respond to this

Carla Ensink

Thanks for the suggestions and advice.
I’m going to think about how I want to start and create a goal for myself.

Jun 28, 2011, 05:54AM PDT | Respond to this


she's afraid of the light in the dark has gotten 14 cheers on this entry.

 

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