Decluttering is FREEING!
Decluttering our homes and our minds feels fantastic and I think God put that desire in us.
“In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.” 2 Timothy 2:20-21 NIV
Who else wants to be “useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work”??? I envision your hand and mine raised up right now!
God frequently uses the physical to teach us something spiritual. He uses what we can see and experience to reveal a deeper truth about who He is and what adventure He is inviting us into with Him.
That’s exactly what He did with this verse. Even though this verse can relate to cleansing sin from our lives, I have sensed God asking me to physically apply this verse throughout my adult life.
My husband and I try to continuously minimize our stuff as much as possible and it is so rewarding.
We are far from perfect at this, but our tiny efforts add up over time!
I also think there is a correlation between decluttering your space and your mind. Doing either one seems to positively impact the other!
If you are interested in beginning this freedom journey, here are two initial questions to ask yourself:
- What needs to be cleansed out of my life?
- In my life, what should be increased or replaced when I eliminate the old?
In 2013, before we had children and while we were living in South Bend, Indiana, I wrote these two questions in my journal while enjoying coffee and quiet time with the Lord.
I didn’t know these two questions would start a significant decluttering journey in my life.
I answered that first question by writing in my journal “less than 5 hrs/wk of TV and replace it with books, less screen time and more conversation.”
Now, eight years later, I still aim to minimize my screen time. I love reading books all year, and I watch 0 hours of TV . . . and my life has never felt more full! (In a good way . . . not an overfull/stretched too thin kind of way!)
I’m grateful for the benefit that intentional question produced in my life, so I want to visit it again with you!
As I ask myself that first question today, the answer that comes is “delayed obedience” or “subduing Satan’s lies faster.” I want to remove those to instead courageously obey, ideally instantly! The faster I recognize the ploys of the Enemy in my mind, the more efficiently I can conquer and destroy them.
How exciting that would be?!
For the second question,, back in 2013 I said, “anything promoting faith, peace, and love – quiet time consistently, health, and community.”
Over the years, I established habits to pursue these things (more on that in Rhythms and Why They Matter) and now that these habits are established, it’s time for new ones!
Today, my answer is “increase in profound thoughtfulness to others, beginning within our home and radiating out.”
I’m not there yet.
But the first step is taking inventory and then identifying where I want to go. Now I can prayerfully begin putting systems in place to take this from a good intention to an effortless reality!
And you can too!
What kind of person do you want to become? What do you want to be true of your life this time next year? What about this time next month? What needs to go? And what exciting relationships/things/ideas/plans is God inviting you into that will replace the old?
Sometimes these answers come into sharper focus when we declutter our minds.
Journaling or having a conversation are a few ways to begin the decluttering process in your mind. Reflection provides relief once you are able to name what parts of your life you want to change. And Andy Stanley says “vision breeds discipline.” I agree! The discipline required to follow through with action is more intrinsically motivating if you have a clear vision of where you want to go.
Looking back to the time of that journal entry, we were a family of two living in a tiny apartment in South Bend, Indiana. We hoped to add many children to our family and I hoped to get on top of my to-do list before welcoming children into our lives. I imagined we would have more enjoyable relational time as a family if I had less tasks screaming for my attention.
My vision for relationships led to a master to-do list to accomplish before we had each child. When those final items were checked off the list, the freedom and peace and gratitude rushed in!
Since that time, our family has grown to 6, we made a move to Illinois, got our first house, and we have tried to stay committed to relentlessly eliminating clutter from our home!
For me, research precedes change.
I started by reading books about organization and decluttering, listening to podcast episodes, asking God questions about it during quiet time, and then finally applying the lessons learned.
Through the process, I discovered physical clutter holds us back by adding to our mental clutter.
Seeing mail or papers on our kitchen counter reminds me of all the decisions I have been procrastinating and the requests still awaiting my response.
So a helpful, tangible step was to eliminate the physical clutter.
I attacked this from two angles: I shopped less and downsized more. Clearing out what you already own and don’t need can feel freeing, but it is only sustainable if you continue to shop and purchase less on an ongoing basis.
It may sound restrictive at first glance, but it counter-intuitively leads to greater benefits:
Less money spent on quantity purchases leaves more room for quality experiences.
Another benefit is spending less time picking up, and being given the gift of time is success in my mind!
Less time maintaining our stuff in turn adds more mental space to allow creative ideas to bubble up.
One of those ideas for me was to rotate 12 bins of toys for kids. Each month a new bin comes into the playroom. There are not many toys available, but I’ve found it leads to more peace and longer attention spans in our home.
We always leave the bookshelf, art cabinet, and puzzles in our playroom, but the other toys we’ve accumulated over the years now get divided into these 12 bins. There is a lot of anticipation on the 1st of every month when I bring up the “new” bin!
Novelty is exciting without requiring buying, buying, buying!
Maybe managing kid’s toys is not your pain point. Is it your closet instead? I gleaned so many tips from The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.
*Disclaimer: There are definitely parts of this book I do not agree with and I wasn’t able to articulate why until I learned from Becca Ehrlich on Christian Minimalism. Becca has a fascinating take on this method. I still find the book to be incredibly helpful, though I would recommend reading it after listening to this episode first!
Marie Kondo did encourage me in my closet organization by recommending I gather all articles of clothing I own together in the same space, at the same time. Then I can go through them, one by one, and am able to see all my options at once.
It makes decisions easier and swifter when I can view all my clothing in one place!
If you love hearing decluttering and time-saving tips from others, make sure you check out Simplifying Your Calendar, Your Home, and Your Life.
And once you complete your decluttering projects and you want to set up a system to easily maintain cleanliness and peace in your home, I think you will enjoy the Best Cleaning Tips from Clean Mama.
For now, here’s a simple way to get started. Consider your response to these questions:
- Take inventory: what is currently cluttering my mind and my home?
- What needs to be cleansed in my life?
- What should be increased or replaced when I eliminate the old?
- Would anyone else benefit more from something I currently own, but rarely (or never) use?
- What is an ongoing way to make this become a reality?
- Who else in my home do I need to involve and continue to work with to make this happen?
- What is the one action step I can take to get started today?
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Be encouraged: eliminating doesn’t lead to less; it leads to FAR more!
If you are brave, please post a before and after pic of your decluttering so we can be inspired by your progress!
Love to you,
Laura