The Clutter Fairy Weekly #144
A Season for Edits: Make Space for the 2023 Version of Your Life
Just as trees drop their leaves to rest and wait for spring, the end of the year is a good time for us to pause and “shed” things from our lives to make room for something new, to reflect on what has served its purpose, what no longer fits, which habits have changed, what we’re ready to sell, donate, recycle, or discard. In episode #144 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, suggests taking a personal inventory focused on clearing space for wonderful new things in your life in 2023.
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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.
In a Spirit of Gratitude
This week’s assignment is to liberate something from your home that was left behind by a previous version of yourself:
- Identify an item that used to fit in an earlier phase of your life but no longer deserves a place in your home. For example:
- A book that you never plan to read.
- Materials for an unfinished project in which you’ve lost interest.
- A decorative object that no longer suits your aesthetic.
- An item of clothing that doesn’t fit—and isn’t like to fit any time soon.
- Clothing or gear for a sport that you no longer play.
- …
We could go on and on with examples, but we imagine that in the course of watching or listening to today’s discussion, you’ve probably already come up with a few ideas of your own.
- Reflect on what this thing once meant in your life.
- Write or say a few words—to yourself or a loved one—about your gratitude for the enjoyment or use you’ve gotten from the item.
- Make a plan for gifting, donating, or discarding the item.
For the full discussion of this week’s tittle, watch the Weekly Tittle segment on YouTube.
I no longer “Sits” for these 2 white, plastic chairs no longer “Fits”
inside my more warmly wood/organic themed home. Grateful for their lightness and ease to keep clean yet one is now on front porch to enjoy sunsets and one is in covered carport to enjoy fresh air as I continue to de-clutter the many dust filled boxes for donation, trash or up=cycling. Thank you for the much appreciated push Gayle/Ed/All.
I decided to close down my business in 2021 and the paper work etc got completed in the summer of this year. I have been busy taking care of my Mother, but it has also been a sort of grieving process to clear out the tools and materials, so I have not done much about it. This weekend I opened the wardrobe where I stored most of the stuff and donated about half of it to a friend who is still in business and really wanted to “inherit” the stuff. I might need some of it in the future but I don’t know, and I am so glad that wardrobe is no longer a “monster wardrobe”, that I don’t want to open. Who knows what 2023 has in store?
Thanks Gayle, Ed and all the lovely audience, I need your guidance in this part of my life.
Today I donated a beautiful mirror that was a wedding gift from a wonderful friend, now deceased, who I greatly admired. In all of the years I’ve had the mirror, it has never fit in with my decor. I have moved it and moved it as I have moved, and just it once again. It is time for the mirror to find a new home and be enjoyed. I visited my friend’s grave and feel good about moving on.