We are now clearly into February, the year is in full swing, Christmas and new Year holidays seem like a lifetime ago, we are officially back to being busy.  Life is hectic, between work, school runs, social media, social commitments and after hours activities we begin to wonder how to we can carve out some precious time for calm in our lives.

When we feel overwhelmed the best thing we can do is to cut out anything we can that overwhelms us, and then create for ourselves a more harmonious lifestyle. So this February it is time to declutter.

Decluttering is not all about our home, it is about our lifestyle too. When we declutter we offload the things that are not only cluttering up our space and our minds, but we are also eliminating things that are causing us stress.

Areas to declutter may include;

  • home and particular rooms within the home
  • office
  • car
  • calendars and commitments
  • people who cause us unwanted stress
  • garden
  • food that is unhealthy for us
  • excess cards and clutter in our wallet, or handbags
  • activities we do not enjoy
  • garage
  • inbox for emails
  • junk drawer in the kitchen

A good way to start is by making a list of the areas that you mostly want to declutter, start with your top three. Think about what is annoying you the most. Is it that you have filled your calendar with too many commitments to other people, rather than scheduling in precious time to relax, or scheduling some time with your favourite people? Perhaps it is your wardrobe and every time you open it you feel overwhelmed with the clutter? Or maybe it is you inbox for your emails?

We start the day in a decluttered space, head off in our messy car, check our email inbox only to be inundated with advertising from a million stores trying to convince us to buy things online, and then we look at out calendar and wonder if we will even get to go to the toilet before 10pm because our day is cluttered with things we don’t even want to do, or people we need to call, or text back. Truthfully we don’t even want them in our lives. On top of that we often glance at Facebook and get annoyed because people are either putting on photos of their amazing spare time activities, or are bitching about things that we don’t are about! When we live like that we find ourselves unhappy, grumpy, tired and frustrated. Did I mention tired!?

  • Pick 3 areas of your life, or spaces that are feeling particularly cluttered.
  • Write them down on 3 sheets of paper.
  • Put them in order of importance to you. Think about what area/space that bothers you the most.
  • Over the next 3 weeks dedicate one week to one task of decluttering.

Once you have identified the areas that bother you the most it will be easier to get started. You will immediately notice the difference once you begin the decluttering process.

For example when we live in a cluttered space we spend much more time cleaning it up, or looking for items we can not locate because they are usually under a pile of clutter. Decluttering your living room can lead to less things to clean, less to dust, which leads to less housework, which equals ‘winning’! Plus you can actually display the things you really do love.

When we declutter our calendar it can allow us to finally schedule time for the people we want to spend time with, or book in some quality down time. Don’t be afraid to say NO, it is not a dirty word. If you need time to spend by yourself, or time to spend with your family alone then pencil it in, that way when someone invites you somewhere you can simply say sorry I am busy that day. Try penciling in things like,

  • reading a book
  • board game night with the kids
  • at home movie night with your partner
  • watching Netflix with the dog

Know that you are entitled to let things go, it is OK to say goodbye to those old favourite jeans, it is OK to not have a coffee card for every coffee shop you have ever been to. It is OK to donate the shoe collection that you hoped would one day adorn your Sex in The City Wardrobe (you were going to have one someday), that now is just a large pile of shoes on your small wardrobes floor. It is OK to not say yes to every person who wants to follow you on social media. It is OK to say I need time, I need space, I need to breathe.

We deserve to enjoy our lives, we deserve to go slow now and then and not feel like if we blink we will miss it! If we miss a party  . . so what! If our child misses an activity once in a while . . so what! If we don’t look after ourselves, we will burn out, decluttering will help set you free.

Thanks for joining me, love Mac xx