2010 : The Year of Decluttering

If 2010 were summed up in one word at Making This Home, I think it would be DECLUTTER.

Many of us worked on The Decluttering Project.  We got to peek into a lot of simple homes (like this Bulgarian home in Berlin).  And I’d like to think that just maybe, we were able to cut back on the things and the stuff that don’t matter so that we could focus on the things in life that do matter.

(Martin + Katie yearrrs ago)

It’s incredible how easy it is to add tasks to our lives.  We start feeling overwhelmed and frustrated.  You know what I’ve discovered over the years, though?  A lot of those tasks that I had were often just busy work… busy work that I was creating.

For example, I was always grabbing the free magazines at the organic grocery store.  I thought there might be something in those magazines that I’d want to know or want to try.  The magazines would pile up.  I’d read them and tear out articles.  I’d file those articles.  Then I’d go through my files and flush out articles that didn’t seem worth hanging onto.  This cycle would take several months.  And each time, I would feel anxious about this pile that I “needed” to go through.

One day it hit me.  The lightbulb was big, bright, and totally LED.  ”Hey Katie,” it whispered.  (Did you know lightbulbs can talk?)  ”Have I got an idea for you, and it’s totally brilliant.”

I’m pretty sure I leaned in for that secret and dimmed all the other lights around me.

“Stop bringing home the magazines in the first place,” it said.

That’s it?

Yeah.  That’s it.  I think we introduce a lot of unnecessaries into our lives. It makes everything more complicated than it needs to be.  Our lives are overwhelemed and cluttered.  Somehow, we find ourselves decluttering again and again.  Criminy!  This is a cycle I don’t want to be a part of.  Now I am the only person on earth who can control how I live my life.  You are the only person who can control yours.

Be true to yourself, not your stuff.

I hope you’ve had some successes with decluttering and eliminating unnecessary in 2010.  Maybe you didn’t reach everything you wanted.  That’s okay.  We have to recognize a desire for something new before we can create it.

I have this vision on where to take my home and Making This Home in 2011.  I’ll share that with you tomorrow.

In the meantime, I hope you’re all having a wonderful holiday time.  These words from Og Mandino have been running through my mind this morning.  (Og Mandino was a bestselling American author and philosopher.)

Never again clutter your days or nights with so many menial and unimportant things that you have no time to accept a real challenge when it comes along. [...] You are not here to fritter away your precious hours when you have the ability to accomplish so much by making a slight change in your routine. No more busy work.

What are your thoughts on decluttering and creating unnecessary in life?  How do you resist it?  Or when do you find yourself falling victim to superfluous projects?