We’re Listening: The Clutter Fairy Answers Your Survey Questions

The Weekly Tittle is an exercise designed to focus your attention on a specific space, aspect, or challenge of decluttering and organizing your home. We assign a new tittle in each webcast/podcast, then check on your progress the following week.

Worst-case Scenario

A respondent to one of our recent surveys suggested we talk about how to get past decluttering mistakes. We decided to turn this idea upside down and make it into a tittle!

Your assignment is to contemplate and evaluate a potential decluttering mistake:

• Identify an item that you’ve been considering eliminating, but about which you still have reservations. This item should be something that you don’t currently want, need, or use, but haven’t talked yourself into letting go of yet.
• Make a list of the reasons you might find yourself wanting, needing, or using the object in the future.
• Next consider the costs involved in keeping the item. Start by answering these questions:
  • How much space does it take up in your home?
  • What are its maintenance and cleaning requirements?
  • Is there someone else who could be using the item right now?
• Now imagine how you’d manage your future want or need if you decided to get rid of this item. Answer these questions:
  • How easily could you replace the item?
  • Do you have something else that would make a reasonable substitute for the item?
  • How serious a problem would it be to make do without the item?
• Finally, reflect on whether your thoughts and feelings about this item have changed as you’ve worked through this exercise. Do you feel more ready or less ready to part with the item?

For the full discussion of this week’s tittle, watch the Weekly Tittle segment on YouTube.