Purging Versus the Process of Decluttering

Do you feel overwhelmed, stressed, or even depressed by the piles of stuff on your dinner table, under the bed, and having little to no room in your closet? You are definitely not alone!

And yet, we still don't have enough! We go to our favorite store and see the things we don't have and come to believe that we need them, that we are deficient in some way without all the things.

Having this stuff can have a negative impact on your quality of life.  Let me walk you through how you can begin a process of healing this pattern.

The Annual Purge

I think most of us may admit to having a "purge" day where you start grabbing everything and throwing it out the door.  While this makes us feel great in the moment as newly refreshed and cleansed home stares us back in the face, by the next day there is mail on the table again, dishes in the sink, and a tremendous amount of clothes staring at us from the laundry basket.

We've only taken a quick remedy out, and just as fad diets fail, so does the purge.

Purging does not allow you to consider the object as an object, we are still attaching ourselves to these things. We need to break this attachment.

Minimalism & the Process of Decluttering

I have latched on to the methods of minimalism because I love the idea that I don't need 1,000 things just to accomplish one task.  Each object in your life and in your home comes with purpose and stays having a purpose.  If an item loses its functionality and begins to merely take up space, then it is no longer needed within the home and may be donated and given away.

I want to stress this as a process.  This is not something that you should feel needs to be done in one day.  To be honest with you all, I am still in the continual process of creating a minimalist home and that is why I am sharing with you.  If this was not a process, it would not be a way of living.  This is how we differentiate the process of decluttering from the purge method.

Decluttering allows you to contemplate each item you have in your home.  

• Does this item provide value to my life?  
• Do I use this item regularly? 
• Is this item somehow a duplicate of another that I already own? 
• and finally, does this item bring me joy?

By contemplating each item, you relinquish this attachment that's been developed between you and the object.  This allows you to minimize your home because you recognize that the item is not necessary in your life and you won't go out and buy a newer version of it or another object that does the same thing.

Decluttering also begins this underlying process of intentionalism.

When Minimalism & Intentionalism Collide

Intentionalism, in its most recent appropriation of the term, has become this wonderful ideology of being conscious of purchases, the products you use in your home, and the carbon foot print that you are leaving.

How do these to concepts coincide?

When we are minimizing the things in our homes, we are processing our intentions with the item.  For instance, in order to bring less "things" into our home, we might begin to be more conscious of the ways in which we are buying our food.  Is this a packaged item?  Can I reuse this packaging? Is the packaging recyclable?

In order to bring less "things" into our home, bulk purchases or homemade cleaning products may become normal and thereby we are becoming more intentional with our way of life.

Am I Really a Minimalist if I Still Have "Stuff"?

Please, do not think of minimalism as a barren apartment with one chair, white walls, and no art.  Minimalism is a way of living and therefore is spectrum, just as intentionalism.  These ways of thinking and way of conducting your day to day life is meant to bring into perspective that things are simply things and the true joy is your ability to spend your time with loved ones and the outdoors rather than maintaining all the things.

Perhaps on this spectrum, you may not come into contact with intentionalism, but you are still finding joy in the way minimalism has impacted your life.  That is what matters.

Future Posts to Help Begin Your Process

This post foregrounds a series of posts that I will be starting which will center around the decluttering process.  Together, we will tackle the closet, the kitchen, inherited items, and what you should do with your hobbies.  I will also be featuring a post on minimalist inspiration to provide you with resources as you find your place on the minimalist spectrum.