I am a huge fan of decluttering – in all areas of my life.
Often when people talk about decluttering, they are talking about physical decluttering however there are other areas of your life that you can be decluttered. By spending time decluttering and getting rid of anything that is not adding positivity to your life, you make space for what’s really important and open yourself to opportunities to come.
This applies to everything – and I mean EVERYTHING! It also shows the universe that you are ready for the next step.
So, what can you declutter?
1. Your home
Every African home has that one room (the loft!) where everything gets dumped. I’m talking clothes from decades ago, cassette players you name it – it’ll be in the loft. I may be speaking to the minority here, but we all have a dumping ground somewhere in the house. In addition to this dumping room, general clutter around the house is also a problem.
By removing the clutter, you can unlock some potential £££ by selling items that you no longer need. It also means that you know where everything is and it’ll take you less time to find something.
2. Your wardrobe
This point goes hand in hand with number 1. For many people, we tend to buy more than we remove old pieces. Clearing your wardrobe is a good way to see what items you have that you had forgotten about that can be revived for the season #clotheslivesmatter.
3. Friendships
It sounds cruel I know but as you grow up you realise that some people are meant to stay in your life longer while others are not. Friendship declutter is by far really hard but essential. They say show me your friends and I’ll tell you your future, what does your future look like? If you have people around you who drain your energy – it’s time to declutter them.
Once you make the decision to let go of someone, fomo (fear of missing out) creeps in – and that’s okay – that human instinct to avoid the feeling of loneliness. Just remember ditching bad connections will help you develop better ones that also help you grow in the process.
4. Commitments
Being a yes person can easily clutter your commitments. Our lives are already cluttered with all of the things we need to do at home, work etc, so it is important to evaluate what additional stress you take on. You can reduce your commitments by saying no to non-essential things. Be very ruthless about saying no and guard your time
5. Social media
With the ever-increasing trend of social media, more and more people are spending a lot of time on their phones. What are you spending your time doing? Is the information you are digesting helpful to you? Is it negative or positive? If not, rather spend your time reading and looking at things that add value to your life.
These are just some of the questions to ask yourself when getting rid of social clutter:
Look through the list of people that you are following
Do you really interact with them?
If you are no longer interested in what they have to say, then unfollow them
6. Emails
I get really aggravated when I see someone’s inbox with 10,000 unread emails. Actually, it makes me feel anxious! How can someone just watch emails pile up? Better yet, why don’t they just unsubscribe from the million mailing lists they are on?
Personally, I like to keep on top of all my emails, so I don’t miss important emails. I tend to get back to emails before the day ends. I even review my junk folder daily and delete unnecessary emails in there.
There are ways in which you can gain control of your mailbox again. You can:
Unsubscribing to mailing lists that no longer serve you
Removing your reading and watching lists (e.g. eBay or Google Flights!)
Review blog subscriptions – is the content still relevant?
Changing your social media email notification preference
Maintaining order in the long run
Once you declutter and get a sense of order, no doubt clutter will inevitably begin to sneak again. It’s easy to put things off but dealing with them will save you headache in the long run. You have to get in a system where you systematically weed out clutter on a regularly basis.
R x