KonMari-ing my home

I’ve been thinking about doing a really thorough and liberating declutter for months, but always put it off for many reasons excuses, including but not limited to:

I have other more important things to do – work and writing

I don’t really have that much clutter

What if I get rid of things I need

What if I get rid of too much

But I spent money on it

And so it goes on

Mid-2015 I read Marie Kondo’s The Life Changing Magic ofTidying Up.  I don’t know if I wasn’t ready for it at the time, if I expected it to be like some kind of miracle so my expectations were too high (I didn’t feel the lightening bolt) or if Marie’s method just didn’t resonate with me.  I’m still not sure.

What I do know is that I am super keen to have a streamlined home that is a joy and pleasure to be in.  So whether it’s Marie Kondo or Peter Walsh (my first true decluttering love) or maybe a mixture of both, I’ll be making changes.

This could be a lengthy project, I don’t know.  I don’t want to let that stop me though; I want to honour the feelings I have inside that I desire to live a life of freedom, ease and space.  To achieve this I can see a lot of trips to my favourite charity shops (to donate, not purchase!)

Are you feeling like you want your home to be more elegant and simple?  I think it’s a combination of January feeling like such a lovely clean slate that I want our home to reflect that, and having just come back from our annual holiday.  My husband and I spent five nights on the Gold Coast in Australia and it was divine.  So sunny and relaxing.

More importantly though, holiday accommodation doesn’t have everything you own crammed into it so it feels very easy and peaceful to live in.  It’s a stark contrast when you arrive home and, even though you’re really happy to be home (because it’s my favourite place in the world), you can’t help but feel a little bit suffocated.

And I know that sounds so ungrateful when my home and its contents would be considered a palace by some, and that they wished they had my 'problem'.  So to start with, I'm changing my moaning to being thankful to the Universe that I have all that I do.  Every time I catch myself being negative about some part of our home that dissatisfies me, I immediately change it to saying thank you for that exact thing (or the positive part of it).  

It really works and helps me feel better, and it's helpful because you can't change something from a place of being unhappy it, you can only change it if you feel good about it.  Weird huh? FYI it's the same with your body - you can't change your shape by hating your shape.  By accepting your shape you are more open to change (see a previous post here about that).

But back to decluttering.  I'm getting started this month!

The audiobook version of Marie’s book has just arrived, so I’m going to take her on my walks and let the message soak in that way.

Let me know if you’re in streamlining mode too.  We can support each other!