Declutter Day 4: Ask Yourself Some Simple Questions

On the face of them, at least, the past three days have been decluttering no-brainers. I've had lots of experience with setting goals. I was already on the ball about how to get stuff out of the house (once it was actually so designated). And of course it's easier if you start with the easier stufff.

Here's where we start to get challenged. Now you have to think a little bit. You have to engage each item you're encountering. Do you really need this? Do you love it? And all the other questions from the original article that basically amount to this: The time and space that your life occupies are finite. Do you have room in your precious life for this?

It slows you down a bit, to weigh these questions, item after item. But you know what? Not as much as the drag that clutter has on your life. And the more you ask yourself these questions, the easier it is to answer them. Your perception of this stuff, and of its place in your life, sharpens so that eventually, with practice, your knowledge of whether to keep or save something becomes automatic.

I admit I am out of practice. Maybe you are, too. That's okay. I have a feeling it will all come back to us. So commit to making some decisions and acting on them. More tomorrow on this one, right?