Anxiety When You Declutter

Dear Friends,

Clutter has been our security blanket for a very long time. It protected us from people, hard times and having to face ourselves. When our homes are cluttered, we don’t have people over. That way we don’t have to open ourselves up for the public to see how we really are.

Well I am here to tell you, you are worth getting to know. When you get the clutter out of your home, you will not have to struggle with the guilt of a messy house. Let’s peel back these layers of clutter and get down to the real you that has been hiding behind this wall. I don’t know you all, but I do know SHEs and we are a fun loving and sweet bunch of people with enough enthusiasm to make the world stand up and take notice. Our only problem is that we go full force or not  at all.

Just like a raging river, we are powerful, but if we could only harness this strength in a more focused fashion. I think our routines are the dam that channels this energy into a productive system.

You know how hard you have worked in the past and then when the day was over, you were worn out and nothing looked any better. Your husband would come home and say,” What have you been up to today?” You would be crushed, because you had worked your bottom off and no one could tell. Or you would be mad and pout or yell.

If you are having anxiety attacks about releasing some of this clutter in your home; stop and think about what you are afraid of.

1. Is it the security of having 3 of an item, in case one breaks?

2. How about the memories that the item evokes when you see it?

3. And there is always the “Aunt Mary gave us this when we married.”

4. I spent a lot of money on this. I can’t possibly give it away.

5. Oh, I can fix this, but it has been in the basement for 15 years waiting to be fixed.

I want you to think about these reasons and look deep into the heart of them.

I see you living your life from an “Oh poor me” attitude. You don’t want to let go of these things, because you feel you will never have the money to replace them. We have to work on this.

I believe this is called hoarding. When you have things in your home that you don’t use and others could, this is what you are doing. We have let our homes fill up to the rafters because we are afraid we might need it sometime and then we won’t have the money to buy it when  we do.

This attitude of “Oh Poor Me” needs to be addressed. When you think poor, you will be poor. When you give, you will receive. This has been the case for many of our members. Just the act of releasing the clutter has filled them with such joy and love, that more blessings have been bestowed upon them. Many people have discovered money in their piles, in the form of coupons, gift certificates, and checks they had forgotten about.

When I decluttered our home, I listened to Suze Orman’s books on CD. She believes that when we release the clutter that we respect ourselves and this will bring more prosperity into our lives. My husband Robert gave me a quote once, “You are rich in proportion to what you can do without”.

Think RICH! If you look at something and have the thought, I might need that someday, that is a sign that you are not thinking rich. If you say, “Yes, I may have a use for this someday, but right now I don’t and when I do need it, I will be able to buy it.” For now give it to someone that will use it and that need it more than you do. You will be blessed.

Now for those Aunt Mary Gifts and other stuff that evokes memories.Why do you need things to remind you of someone you love? You have your memories. If you need reminders, take a picture and put them in a scrapbook or something. You don’t need STUFF to evoke memories. A lot of the time those memories are not much fun anyway. I got rid of  everything in my home that didn’t make me smile when I looked at it. I mean this. Everything. Now I only have things around me that bring me joy. When you can walk through your home with a smile on your face, I have done my job.

Now let’s address guilt. The guilt for not liking an item that you got for a gift. It is fine to not like it. It is OK to let it go and let someone else love it. I know that a lot of the things that are in  your homes are hand-me-downs. A family member gave them to you. You also feel guilt about releasing these things. Don’t! Why do you think they gave them to you in the first place. They wanted them out of their home. If they have served their purpose then, by all means let them go to a new home.

I have been teased about this Declutter song for a long time now. I just make up the words as I go, but I sing it from the STUFF’s point of view. And at the top of my lungs and that is not a pretty sound, but it helps me to let things go when I have a hard time.  Get your children to sing along with you! Let It Go!

You can do this.

FlyLady

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