Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyful words in the English language, and yet one that we are culturally cut off from understanding and enjoying.  The consumption society has made us feel that happiness lies in having things, and has failed to teach us the happiness of not having things.  ~Elise Boulding
 
What a unique treasure are the things we have learned to live without, for no thief can take them from us.  ~Robert Brault
 
We don't need to increase our goods nearly as much as we need to scale down our wants.  Not wanting something is as good as possessing it.  ~Donald Horban 

This is the time of year in which I perform my seasonal swap of clothing. No more sandals and summer time dresses taking up room in my closet. Now is the time I grab my two seasonal bins from storage and spend a couple hours to bring out the winter wear and put away the spring summer fashions. Next year I will be excited to do the swap again and look forward to taking back some of my favorites to enjoy.
 
I suggest everyone try this, and give your closet some breathing space. Enjoy the stuff that you really love and use often. All you need is a few clear bins as shown in the picture and some safe and dry space to store it. As you see, my needs are covered with only two bins. The box on top represents a portion of donated items from my household and my mothers too.
 
Cost to you, about $20 per bin and a few hours of your time.
And you can do this with things like kid’s toys and books too. Doing a seasonal swap each year gives your children a chance to focus more on the few favorites they own and each year see the old as new again. It beats shopping for new stuff when you can get a thrill from un-boxing some almost forgotten favorites. 

Go ahead and ask, you won't be the first...

If you want to know what simple activity can consistently make someone better organized, I will answer 'The ability to make quick objective decisions'.


To Decide or Not to Decide. 
Learning to ‘make decisions’ on everything, as soon as it crosses your path, and dedicating time and energy to follow through on your choices, are two important aspects to staying organized.

Not being able to make decisions, and putting things ‘here for now’ is a challenge that plaques many, for various reasons. These reasons, or shall I say ‘Obstacles’ are mainly due to what I will call ‘technical error’.
 
Technical Error is not having a proper, easy to access ‘home’ for things. Then again, sometimes the 'obstacle' leading to this 'decision making challenge' can be related to fears or even perfectionism. Yet anyway we slice it, learning to make objective decisions about what we keep, where we keep it and whether or not we act on it is very important in my opinion.

So to help you and those you know make better choices about what to keep and what to do with it, here are some tools to share.

To help you make quick decisions I have a free copy of the '4 Decisions to Make with Tasks and Mail' for you on my site.

Then if you want to take a look at thinning out or eliminating any piles of business cards, magazines, brochures and over stuffed files you can find great 'Tips to Weed your Tasks and Paper' here.

And if letting go is hard, stay objective by asking yourself these questions about your stuff:

When it comes to Paper:
Is it a duplicate?
Is it current?
How often will I refer to it?
Can I get it elsewhere if I need it?
Do I have time to read it?
Do I want, or truly need this?
Is replication very difficult?
Does the law require I keep it?

When it comes to Clutter ask:
When was it last used?
Is there a specific date I will need this again in future?
How hard would it be to replace again if I needed it?
How does it make my life more purposeful or better?
Is it beautiful or loved?
Does it reflect the person I am now?
What is worst case scenario if I toss it?

Now, if you still struggle a bit with the questions above and/or still need a little help to decide where to put things, take a closer look at the information in my 2010 article The-top-questions-to-ask-yourself-about-your-stuff


OK, all good? Ready to tackle it alone? Great!

Not looking forward to going it alone?
Just don't have the time?
Or is being objective impossible because you can’t see the forest through the trees?

Call me, its my passion to help. 

How do I know what my clients are experiencing?

Well, I too have accumulated 'stuff' and occasionally its needs to be purged.

Here's me, practicing what I preach...
Last Monday was one of those days when I too had to spend some time organizing my belongings, re-live some past memories and let go of some 'stuff'!

We have a small storage unit close by in which we store our valuable and not so valuable possessions that just don’t fit in our home. For the most part these items are not up for disposal due to their valuable and highly useful nature. (For example: our 4 large containers of camping and sporting gear)
 
Lately however, we have been contemplating thinning out much of the household items and other less loved stuff we know has been taking up space. So we decided to practice what we preach: ‘Have nothing which you don't know to be useful, think to be beautiful, or love.’
 
We managed to gather up 6 large boxes of stuff to give away. I was actually surprised at the amount and was excited to make that kind of a dent in our storage space. We now have more room and much better access to what we use most often.
 
One particularly liberating experience was tossing out a pile of old records I had created when I was producing a business plan for a health food internet café. Wow, what a trip to go through those old documents and ideas! Yet, I don’t regret tossing it because really, I have most documents backed up in electronic format anyhow.
 
I understand my client's situations and feelings when dealing with clutter and letting go. Like myself, I know they too can feel refreshed when ‘space’ is cleared and the 'unneeded' and 'unwanted' are released. So, where is your clutter?

  

1. Spread things out a little so you are not stuck seeing the forest rather than the trees.
 
2. Start with items that you know what do with. Put them away immediately.
 
3. Pick items up one by one and force yourself to look at them.    

Once you have put away the items you know what to do with you may see categories emerging. If items don't have a home or don't fit in current location keep gathering them up in their 'like' groups.
 
After you have your categories of stuff sorted out you will be in a better position to gauge what else can get tossed, donated or recycled, and where the keepers should be kept.