Clearing Out The Clutter

If you’ve been reading my posts on Facebook you know that I’m in the process of selling my house. It’s been an interesting process to say the least but also eye opening experience.  We bought a cute character home about six years ago. It’s a three bedroom rancher about 1,400 square feet. We have 1,000 square feet of attic space which to my surprise over the years has been packed full of clutter.

My husband Brian and I have been married over thirteen years and together fifteen. When we got together we merged our stuff and never tossed anything out. Both my parents passed away and more stuff arrived at our doorstep. Brian lost a few grandparents along the way and even more bits and pieces were delivered from Ontario. All of these items had some sentimental value even if the pinwheel crystal glasses and tea cups weren’t exactly our taste. So we packed and schlepped these items from various apartments to their final resting place in our house and up in the attic they went.

We were pretty adamant that we weren’t going to be moving non-essential items into our new home. We both wanted to clear the clutter and start fresh. After two hours of hauling stuff down from the attic we had hardly made a dent in the pile. We opened box after box of what I considered to be garage sale items and wondered how on earth we had accumulated all this stuff? Why had we moved it from place to place and even more importantly why did we ever hang onto to any of it?

We took a few trips down memory lane while going through the clutter. Yes, I was tempted to put all my stuffed animals back into a box and keep them for old time sake, but I persevered and placed Boo Boo into a box for good will. I opened up one box and it was full of fitness magazines dating back to the early nineties. Good grief why was I keeping those? Did I actually think I was going to read them again? Don’t laugh. I know a lot of you are keeping the same things in your closets.

Later in the evening I couldn’t help but feel a sense a relief coupled with a feeling of uneasiness. I was relieved to be clearing the clutter. Spring cleaning always feels so good. It’s a time to start fresh again so I was glad that we were doing it. However, I still had this sense of uneasiness in the pit of my stomach. Maybe it was because of the move, or going through all our stuff gave me a sense of nostalgia. Or perhaps it was because I was getting rid of a lot of things that I felt a sense of loss. I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

Waking up this morning I actually felt a little lighter. It was like I could sense that the house had more space in it. Getting rid of things from the past that were being unused had freed my mind for what is to come in our future. I vowed that we wouldn’t buy anything new unless we absolutely needed it. If we did bring new things into the house then that meant we would have to get rid of something else. As they saying goes, out with the old and in with the new.

We still have hours of cleaning left to do in our attic. There’s much more stuff to go through but I’m looking forward to keeping only those items that I know we’re going to use and tossing things that haven’t been touched in almost a decade.

This exercise has inspired me to do the same in my business. I’m thinking about all the programs and workshops I offer and considering tossing out the old and starting again with fresh eyes. I’m scanning the business environment for innovation and creativity in the fitness industry and to be honest I’m not seeing much new. How about you?

To be honest I’m not sure exactly where this new found clutter clearing clarity will take me. But what I do know is that clutter creeps into our lives. It’s subtle, sneaky and accumulative. Before you know it you’re bogged down with piles of unwanted junk and you may feel suffocated and smothered by it all. Break free from the clutter of your home, your business and your mind and enjoy making room for new and exciting adventures to come.