Your home is a living space, not a storage space.  Francine Jay

Look around.
Make sure that there is more room in your home devoted to living, 
than there is to storing.

How many things are you keeping ‘just in case’?
Are your purchases crowding the spaces
you could be using for living?
(Piles on chairs?  Stacks on counters? Bags on the floors?)

Make room in your home so you feel comfortable there.
Create space to do what you enjoy, with the people you love.

More living.
Less storing.

It’s better to live without something you might use,
than to be surrounded by things you don’t use.

(Thanks Lynette for sharing this)

Lynette Thomas

Yup.
Let that project go.
Face the fact that you are not going to spend the time, 
the energy, or any more money trying to finish something
that no longer interests or engages you.

You won’t finish that knitting project.
You aren’t going to scrapbook that vacation from 2010.
That stack of six month’s worth of magazines? Just isn’t in your reading future.

It’s okay.
Interests change.
Priorites get reevaluated.
What we care about shifts.
It’s okay to realize and recognize who we are now.

Stop beating yourself up over not finishing.
Quit thinking that just because it was important; it’s still important.
(Seriously, if it was important you’d have done it)

Permission granted to walk away from unfinished projects.
To give away, or throw away, the materials and supplies.

Letting go of things you aren’t going to do,
will open up space in your home and your life.
(On several levels…..)

Time flies. (whether you are having fun or not)

And no, we can’t always be having fun.  Darn it.
After all, there’s laundry to do, and toilets to clean,
and the regular mechanics of daily living.

However, we can make more conscious choices about 
where and how we do spend our time and energy.

What tasks can we simplify?
(You don’t have to fold your underwear.
You could pay someone to clean your toilets)

Less stuff in your house, means less to maintain.
Fewer obligations means more time for the people and activites
that feed your heart.

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”  Annie Dillard

​Spend wisely.

That was then.
This is now.

Then I played tennis.
Now I do yoga.

Then I cooked for five people.
Now I make meals for two.

Then I dressed for the office.
Now I am retired.

Then I _____________.
Now I _____________.

Time passes.
Things change.

What we once used regularly, we  now seldom touch or rarely need.
There are people out there who are playing tennis, or cooking for a large family
or who need professional clothing.
Letting go of what you no longer use, 
makes it available to people who need it now.

Remember the fun and pleasure you received from an activity,
and give someone else a chance to experience it too.

Don’t let all your stuff from then,
fill the space for what you could be doing now.

Dana K. White, 
the author of several funny, practical and compassionate books about decluttering,
suggests five minutes of picking up every day.

She doesn’t care when you do it, or which room; she merely suggests that if you spend five minutes every day, it will make a visible difference in your home.

Starting small, when things feel overwhelming, can be just the boost you need
to keep going.

Use the five minutes to pick up any trash/recycling in the space.
If there’s still time once you’ve dealt with that stuff,
grab things that don’t belong in that space and put them in their homes.
If you find something that doesn’t have a home:
Create one for it-where you would look if ever you wanted the item.
Or consider that it is homeless because it doesn’t really need to be in your house.
(See trash/recycle)

Will five minutes give you an immaculate home?
Obviously not.
But it will clear some clutter from at least one place.
And that’s a start.

You, showing up for your own life.

You, showing up in small, everyday ways for the people you love.

You, giving the benefit of the doubt.

You, offering compassion-to yourself.

You, offering compassion to others, when it seems easier to cast judgement.

Imperfect you.
​
You are a gift.
Act according.

Worried that if you let something go you’ll regret it later?
That’s a possibility.
And it’s just as possible that once it’s gone you’ll never think about it again.

Do you want to live with clutter or regret?

Also, if you’re really using something now, in this life,
you won’t let it go.
It’s only in that future someday life,
when you think you might need the thing that keeps you stuck.
And feeds that “What if I need this” thinking.

Say you do let it go.
And in a month, or six you realize you need it.
You’ll figure out a way to get it again, or use something else,
or live with the regret and move on.

If what you really want is less clutter,
fewer things to the care of, manage,
or have to find homes for:
Let things go.
Being willing and brave enough to know you can survive regret.

The learning process isn’t finished when you acquire knowledge. It’s complete when you consistently apply that knowledge.
 
Many people accumulate information. Far fewer use it to evolve and improve. The ultimate test of growth is closing the gap between awareness and action.  Adam Grant

The Two Minute Rule.
Saving things Just in Case (Justin Case)
One in.  One Out.
How much is enough?

Use what you know to determine how you act.
​Close the gap.