The Clutter Fairy Weekly #280
Being Grateful for What We Have (or Don’t): Gratitude and Clutter
It’s easy to get swept up and carried away by the excitement of the holiday season. But as we prepare for this busy time of family, fun, and celebration, let’s reflect on our feelings of gratitude and how they impact the way we accumulate, manage, and dispose of our stuff. In episode #280 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, examines the role of gratitude in our decision-making and in the work of decluttering and organizing.
Content in this episode is based on the results of audience surveys.
Some content in this episode is based on results of a survey of our audience.
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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.
How Much Backup Do You Need?
This week’s assignment is to evaluate items for which you’re keeping backups in an effort to right-size your stashes.
- Identify a few categories of stuff for which you’ve kept one or more backups. Areas that tend to accumulate a lot of backups include small appliances, linens, dishes, kitchen equipment, pantry, certain categories of clothes, and toiletries and other personal-care items.
- Answer the following questions about each item:
- How often have you had to rely on the backup?
- How many backups do you need for the category in question. (For example, you could use a second vacuum cleaner if your primary one breaks down, but what is the likelihood that you would ever need a third vacuum cleaner?)
- How much storage space do the backups require?
- What cost or effort would be involved in replacing the primary item?
- Reflect on whether you might safely reduce the number of backups you’re keeping for any of the categories you’ve considered. Decide on the number of backups you’re comfortable keeping.
- Discard, give away, or donate any backup items that exceed the limits you’ve set.
For the full discussion of this week’s tittle, watch the Weekly Tittle segment on YouTube.
Hello!!ClutterFairyTribe! As I have humor to share about my ‘Backups” which involved my ongoing fear of scarcity/real risk so I took an itty bitty step (learned from prior podcast) with my real milk i.e. Half&Half. Mini boxes from Trader Joes, cost $1.79 now and I bought 8 boxes leaving 4 for someone else. These are seasonal now and I use them for my daily coffee, cookies, cereal, ice cream and holiday pie. The shelf life is up to 12 months/1 year as only once opened = one (lasts 4/6 days as I use it). Gotta have the real cream with my Coffee or Holiday Pie. I have gained the courage to go thru my multiple backups donating all those piles of same tools, toys, collectables, books, etc…I now have organized space and clear floors to walk on. THANK YOU ALL and you Gayle/Todd!!! Happy Holidays to all! Marshmallow (Mel).
I just wanted to thank you, Gayle and Ed both, for your efforts. You’re a class act. I feel your support and am appreciating the related rewards, here in Massachusetts. 😎