A Clutter Carol: How Ghosts of Past and Future Haunt Our Present

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.

Interrogate Your Ghosts

This week’s assignment is to evaluate and exorcise a “ghost” of your past or future—i.e., to eliminate an item of clutter that signified your past or that you’ve saved for the just-in-case future:

• Scan your home for an item or collection that meets any of the following criteria:
  • Materials or tools for a project you may never finish.
  • Supplies for an art or craft you’ve left behind.
  • Mementoes of a relationship you’d just as soon forget.
  • Stockpiles of items you expected to need, but still haven’t used up.
  • Paperwork or related materials for a job or career you’ve left behind.
• Reflect on whether you still want, need, or reasonably expect to use the item or collection in question. If not, make a plan to discard, donate, or give away the clutter.

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