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Oh, clutter. How you mock us. Always there, zapping our energy with your very existence. And during the holidays, you multiply until it seems at times that there is nothing but clutter.
Time to take control of the clutter in our lives, and make it stop dragging on our energy. Here are a few simple, free ideas for getting the clutter in your life under control.
Declutter Your Stuff
When we think of getting rid of the clutter in our lives, our physical environment is typically what we think of first. The good thing is that of the different types of clutter in our lives, physical clutter is the easiest to tackle. Here are some ideas for decluttering and organizing your home:
1. Get rid of anything that isn't useful or beautiful.
2. If you're not sure how useful something is, store it in the basement or garage. If you haven't used it within the next six months, it's time to donate it. The holidays are a good time to test this out, because we usually end up doing some type of re-organizing in our homes to accommodate holiday gifts and decorations.
3. Don't keep things just to be nice. I used to keep and display everything our family members bought us for our house, even if I didn't like it. It was very liberating to finally clear out the items I didn't love.
4. You don't need to put up every holiday decoration you own. Choose a few special ones and display them prominently.
5. Start decluttering the areas of your house that drive you craziest, first. These are the areas that are causing you stress, which is something we usually have in abundance during the holidays anyway.
Declutter Your Schedule The holidays also bring a fair share of time commitments into play. Holiday parties, school plays and programs, volunteering , shopping, baking, and decorating all take time. If you try to do everything, you won't enjoy anything. Here's how to streamline your schedule for the holidays: 6. Akin to rule #1, above, limit the number of activities you'll do this season to those you really enjoy. If you hate trekking to your brother-in-law's house for Christmas eve, don't do it. The holidays are a good time to start making your own traditions. If you'd rather stay home and snuggle with your sweetie that night instead, then do it. 7. Stop trying to do everything. Prioritize your activities. The traditions that you and your family cherish should stay on the schedule. Everything else, including baking extravaganzas, shopping marathons, and hobnobbing with work associates can go (unless you really enjoy those things!) 8. Learn to say "no." This goes along with prioritizing. If you're anything like me, you are always trying to make everyone happy, which only results in totally exhausting yourself. You deserve to enjoy the season, too. Declutter Your Mind You can't store your mental clutter away in a box, but it's there, taking up space just like physical clutter does. And, like physical clutter, mental clutter causes stress in your life. Decluttering your mind is more challenging than clearing out a closet, but it will have a profound effect on your stress level. 9. Get your to-do list out of your head and onto a list. Less to remember, less to worry about forgetting. 10. Are you holding a grudge? Time to let it go. You're expending more energy and brainpower holding that grudge than the person expended to make you mad in the first place. 11. Figure out what the holidays mean to you. Are you conflicted about the holidays? Like Charlie Brown, I think many of us end up asking "is this what Christmas (or Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa) is all about?" If you're a religious person, try to bring that aspect to the forefront. If you're not so religious, but enjoy the revelry and togetherness of the season, accentuate that. 12. Focus. If you're watching a movie, watch the movie. If you're eating a cookie, eat a cookie. This time of year often sends our brains into overdrive with all of the things we want to accomplish. We may get everything done, and find that we don't remember much of the season at all. Take time to focus on what you're doing, and you'll feel less stressed and more fulfilled. Clutter, whether physical or mental, can dampen the joy of the holiday season. Taking care of your clutter now will free you up to really enjoy the season with family and friends. One more idea for decluttering your holidays: reconsider sending all of those holiday cards! Check out this video from Planet Green. New Holiday Traditions
