Making Room For What Matters.

“Abundance is a process of letting go; that which is empty can receive.” - Bryant H. McGill

The book,  “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo was introduced to us by our eldest daughter.  She was getting ready to move out into her dorm for college and had read this book in a day. This became her mission and soon her mission became our family mission - spreading to every room in our house and boy was it life changing!
 
The rules (not all listed here) that were suggested in the book were as follows:

• Tackle one room at a time.
• Pull everything out of your closets (EVERYTHING) That goes for all accessories, even belts.
• Then hold each piece of clothing in your hand and ask yourself, do you love this item? If not, dump into charity pile.
• If it has sentimental value and you have not warn it for the past year, dump it.
• If you love a piece of clothing but don’t have anything to match with it, dump it. (If you really loved it, you would have found something by now to match with it.)
• If you have items that you don’t wear because you hope to fit back into them one day, dump it.
• These rules goes for shoes, coats, belts, scarfs etc.

 
Lessons learned:

• Keeping things because of their sentimental value keeps you stuck in the past. If it’s not something you wear or use what’s the point in holding onto it.  We store sentimental stuff in our memories, why do we need an item for that!
• If you are keeping clothes that are too small for you and are hoping to one day fit back into them, you are only causing you to suffer. They are a constant reminder that you are not happy with your body image as it is now. So dump clothes that are too small. Don’t fool yourself – they are not an incentive to lose weight

The benefits:

• Every time I went into my closet to pick something to wear, it felt like a whole new experience. The reason for this was because all I had left in my wardrobe was only the clothes I LOVE to wear.  I no longer kept my fancy clothes for lunch dates with friends or celebrations. When you wear your nice clothes on an ordinary day of the week, it turns that day around to feel extra-ordinary. You feel glamorous. I even made an effort to wear makeup everyday so it would show off my attire.
• I found myself making more plans to meet up with friends more often. I felt more social because I was in clothes that made me feel good. 
• My shopping experience changed too. I stopped buying clothes just because I thought the item was a bargain. Most of those items, I never loved, I just thought it was good quality for the price and felt I should buy it for that reason.
• When it came to shoes and bags, I made sure I would replace a bag or shoes with ones in my wardrobe. I would discard the old ones and not leave them thrown in the back of the closet to gather dust and clutter my space up.
• I am a major book worm and love books. Any books that I wanted to buy, I would either order them in at the library or buy them on Kindle. It was painful for me to declutter my collection of books from my home and didn’t want to experience this ordeal again. Once they were gone though, I did love the new space it provided on my shelves for my kids painted pottery pieces.

I loved being in my house more. Everything was in its place and organised.
 
This decluttering exercise was so therapeutic. I felt my entire house was revamped, and the energy was uplifting.  I fell in love with my home for the first time! My mental state felt like it had been given an overhaul too. I was more aware of how I looked every day not just on days with friends or celebrations. My spending habits changed. I didn’t throw away money on sale items just because they were on sale. I had to love the item first and foremost. I saved a fortune on books by borrowing them from the library and kindle books are always cheaper than hard copies.  House cleaning felt easier as everything had its place, nothing spilled over into other rooms. Everything had a purpose, a function.
 
So if you are feeling like you are in a funk or need uplifting,  why not try overhauling your living space.  Trust me, this experience is “Life Changing!!”

If you would like help in applying this to your life, personal or business - please click here to book in a complimentary call with me Schedule-A-Call​