Spirited Discussion: Decluttering Your Life

Creating a space inside your home could be a daunting task especially if you are the incurable collector of anything and everything under the sun.

But if you ponder on these tips, you might be able to de-clutter your home as well as your life.

1. Get a hold of yourself.

Ask yourself, "Why the clutter?" when the obvious is that if you are organized you'll have more time to enjoy the other things in life. Battle it out with the inner packrat inside of you.

2. Now is the time.

Acknowledge that there will be a hundred tomorrows to come but if you keep on procrastinating, you may end up overwhelmed with the magnitude of the task that you are going to do and you'll end up not doing it, at all. Besides, after time has elapsed, you would have collected more clutter overtime.

3. More means less.

I'll give you a very concrete example. I have two iPods, five cell phones and let us just say about eight hundred other stuff and gadgets (computer stuff, wires, connectors, drives, back-up devices, network adapters and about every utility to enhance my computing life.) What's the real score? I spend more time figuring things out--i.e. troubleshooting (guess this is a better terminology), than actually enjoying the functionality of every device.

4. Less is always more.

Imagine a simple room with just the very basic purposeful amenities inside it. You'll see the actual room layout; appreciate the clean lines; see more of the subtle hues. You'll actually find yourself spending more time in that room, with pleasure and relaxation.

5. Make room for new things.

Out with the old! I always tell my siblings the same thing. Get rid of your old stuff so that you will invite new things to come in. I always tell them jokingly, "If you give away your cell phone, I might be tempted to give to you my smartphone."

If this is a little hard to practice, you can do it the other way. When you get something new, get rid of the old so that you don't accumulate unnecessary, out-of-style, outdated stuff that will eventually pile up as junk.

6. Segregate, now!

--Trash

--To-Go

--Treasure

See your stuff with two eyes. Ask yourself, "For here?" or "To go?". If the stuff is not good to keep 'for here' or not good enough 'to go' to other human beings, then it's trash. Yup, trash is not fit for human consumption!

7. Purging is rewarding to the soul.

Nothing is as refreshing and fulfilling as being able to cleanse your life of old unwanted stuff, be it old soiled material stuff or old nasty habits.

We all need a dose of self-cleaning on a periodic basis to loosen up some tight ends and probably overhaul some worn-out parts and oil up some rusty gears in our life. Periodic self-cleaning actually works with computers!

8. You are dust.

And to dust you shall return! If you are already accumulating too much dust now with the stuff that you have, isn't that clue enough that perhaps you are going to return to dust anytime (I hope not soon enough, knock on wood!).

It's your reality. It's my reality. A hundred years from now, we'll all sit side by side--none better than any other. Yup, you'll be dust. I'll be dust.

A single crap you have now, none you'll take. Duh?

9. Help the planet.

And when I say the planet, I mean the people in it. Do you actually know how many people sleep on the streets with no blankets, on mere cardboard boxes on a cold breezy night?

One time, at past 11 p.m. at a bar-b-q stand in Cebu, a mother was begging for food with a totally unclothed 2-year-old in her arms. The sight of it, crushed my inner being.

Meanwhile, here you were on a different corner of the planet in your warm, cozy bed covered with about fifty-two Swarovski crystal-encrusted blankets. Yup, 52 blankets! How could you?

10. Desperate measures for desperate times.

In this economy, help yourself. Love to shop? Shop in your closet, or in your drawer or in your cabinets. I'm sure you have stuff with tags still in it.

You might find something that you can sell to generate extra funds.

You might also find some old stuff that someone you know may still be able to use for free.

Pass on the savings.

11. If all else fails, reconsider tips 1 to 10!

12. You can still use tip # 11...