Decluttering: an introduction

I grew up with clutter. My mom is a pack rat, and she passed that on to me. A good example relates to the current poll: all of our old cell phones and even chargers are saved, kept in a random drawer. And it's not as though everything we keep is neatly organized and put away, of course. Pretty much every available flat surface in our house is covered in stuff. It takes a lot of work to get our house presentable for the two major entertaining event that we do each year, Christmas brunch and Passover.

But I know all this clutter isn't good. I'm sure I'd think better and get more done if my room, at least, were neat and clean. So with Change Everything as my motivation, I'm going to declutter my life. This has two major aspects: removing things and acquiring fewer things. In addition to getting rid of the clutter that I already have, I will make more conscious purchases. Before buying something, I will ask myself, "Do I need this? Will I truly regret not purchasing this?" This will allow me to save money as well as cut down on needless, cluttering purchases.

However, removing what clutter I already have is the more important and urgent task. This challenge will, in fact, have many minor parts to it. i won't list them as separate changes because I will do them at different paces and they all contribute to the overall goal of decluttering. A list, almost certainly not exhaustive:

• Recycle, sell, or give away all books that I will never read or refer to again (Exception: books I hope to read to or give to future children)
• Knit up the yarn in my stash
• Use all the fabric in my stash
• Evaluate other crafting materials and get rid of what I will not use
• Give away or throw out clothing I will never wear again (Exception: Items I hope to give to a daughter and/or granddaughter someday)
• Sell or give away hair accessories I will never use again
• Clean area by closet, under desk, etc. so it looks better and I have more space

The hardest part, I'm sure, will be cutting down on the craft materials. I seem to do this every few years, and then it builds up again. My crafting urges are, I believe, at the heart of my hoarding. I'm always thinking "But I may want to use this someday!" As part of this challenge, I want to give everything a really critical look and make sure that there's actually a good chance I'll use something. Then, if I can, I'll find a real place for it, not just shove it on a shelf where it happens to fit.

I do not want to be wasteful during this challenge, and will sell or give away what I can--I may sign up for Freecycle at some point. However, I will not allow myself to use wastefulness as an excuse to keep clutter around. I will be more mindful of waste on the purchasing end, where I can actually control it.