My clients search for motivation or inspiration to “ruthlessly” purge their clutter, once and for all.  “Ruthless”, that’s their word, from three people in one week.  What is ‘Ruthless’?  In this case, we’ll use “cold, merciless or hard-hearted”.

Clutter is defined as anything we don’t need, use or love (if I knew who said this first, I would give them credit).  Our stuff turns into clutter for a number a reasons, feeding a number of emotions.  Love, sentimentality, desire, want, fear, anxiety, apathy, need.  When we take the emotion back out of our clutter and look at it purely in the context of “I need this” or “I don’t need this”, suddenly, it’s easier to get rid of our clutter. 

So, for purposes of clearing clutter, “Ruthless” can be a useful emotion.  As cold and uncaring as the word sounds, I absolutely agree that sometimes we need to be detached and unemotional about our stuff if we intend to clear clutter and restore order.  To change our environment, we may, indeed, need to remove our emotions. Emotions aren’t bad, but they can make us hold on to stuff, to clutter, long after it ceases to be useful, needed or helpful.

How to move from Drowning in Emotional Clutter to Ruthless Purging?

1. Choose charitable donation destinations that you are emotionally attached to.  Knowing that others will benefit from your purging efforts will make it easier to finally let go and donate your clutter.
2. If you have clutter for emotional reasons, make clearing clutter a pleasant task:
   1. Keep your eyes on the prize.  Imagine how good you will feel when the clutter is gone.  Imagine all the benefits that will come from clearing a space.  And give yourself a reward to look forward to, for when you are done with today’s project. 
3. If you have clutter for emotional reasons, make clearing it a social event: 
   1. Take a picture, text a friend.  Ask for support from your friends and family. 
   2. Share the news that you are de-cluttering, and you will be amazed at who will understand.   We all share similar struggles.
   3. Have someone, like a professional organizer or objective friend or family member, help you with your clutter project.  The objective person is not emotionally attached to your stuff, and can see your stuff just as stuff.  Useful or not useful, whole or broken, usable or spoiled.  Objectivity is a great lens through which to view your stuff.
4. If you have clutter for emotional reasons, make clearing it a meaningful event:
   1. Saving something to give to someone some day?  Write a note, or even give it to your loved one now!
   2. Grab the notebook, write down next actions for your items. 
   3. Take a picture, or jot down a few notes in a journal about your items, and then let them go.  We are not neglecting a person or the memory of a person by clearing some clutter. 
5. Let go of negative emotions as you clear your clutter.  Emotions and sentimentality can be both negative and positive.  If an item generates a strong response inside, determine if it is a positive one or a negative one. Keep the stuff that makes you feel good, and feeds your love of others.  Anything else is not worth keeping.
6. Imagine an open hand.  Clench up your hands tightly, in fists, squeezing very hard.  Feel how your arms and shoulders start to tense up, too?  Now relax and release your hands.  Wiggle your fingers, feel the blood rushing back into your fingertips. Imagine goodness flowing into your open hand.  Yes, this an analogy, not even a very subtle one.  We hold on tightly to our clutter because doing so is a habit.  But it feels SO GOOD to let some of that go.  And once our hands are open, we are ready to receive new goodness.
7. Cut yourself some slack through this organizing process because we may mourn when we give away things.  But the benefits outweigh the pain!

 If you, too, search for inspiration and motivation to clear the clutter, try one of these tips to make the transition!