Survey #288—Full Response from Gabriella
| Pronouns | She/her |
|---|---|
| What did you learn about yourself or your stuff through your decluttering and organizing process in 2025? | - If I declutter a space that I haven't cleared out for a long time, like my basement, it is highly probable that a lot more stuff turns up than I expected - I once more realized how relaxing and comforting it is to live in a calm and tidy home. - As I worked a second round through another huge stack of paper I observed that I no longer developed any decision fatigue! - After having accomplished a lot of decluttering throughout the year, in december I granted myself a break from decluttering. This feels so wholesome and makes me look forward to continuing in 2026. |
| What new decluttering or organizing ideas, methods, or techniques proved helpful in 2025? Were there any game-changers? | Game changers: 1. Keeping a "decluttering journal": to set decluttering goals and milestones, document my advances, plan out what subcategories I intend to work on next, keeping myself accountable and last not least, journaling to dissolve roadblocks as they appear 2. To overcome my resistance to doing all those tedious little tasks (including maintenance chores) that somehow never end and tend to accumulate relentlessly, I used to set a timer to accomplish one chore at a time. - What turned out to be even better is my invention of a "power hour", in which I quickly accomplish a number of these little tasks, that usually do not require much time to do, but otherwise cause a lot of procrastination and guilt. - To motivate myself to keep up with maintenance and to attack clutter piles, I imagine how wonderful it will feel to once more have a clutter-free space. - I observed that reverse decluttering a designated space helps me a lot in getting rid of items that I have great difficulty in letting go of. I'm sure Ican apply this to other types of paper documents too. - digitizing knitting patterns and references that I want to keep helped me let go of a lot of my knitting magazines |
| What did you accomplish in 2025 for which you’d like to pat yourself on the back (and enjoy the acknowledgments of The Clutter Fairy community)? | - I got rid of a plethora of paper of different types, especially in categories that I'd already reduced in previous years: most of my knitting mags (a lot!), some other mags, over 130 books, tons of ressources from my former professional life - I cleaned out about 80 % of my basement, even though it was a lot more work than I'd expected - By staying extremely patient and only occasionally gently reminding my partner of how getting rid of unnecessary and/or unloved items would make our appartment in Morocco so much more funtional and enjoyable - a miracle hapened: He began to declutter his stuff step by step on his own. A few days ago he told me, that his log-term goal is to be well prepared for our downsizing at some point in the future. |
| How do you plan to apply what you learned in 2025 to your 2026 projects? What new decluttering or organizing projects would you like to take on next? | - Accomplish a decluttering project even if it turns out more difficult or work intensive than expected (start early!!) - reverse declutter when it gets difficult to let go of some items - coninue keeping a decluttering journal - stage regular "power hours" to avoid procrastination - digitize more documents tha I absolutely want keep and get rid of the hardcopies ***- After the pending basement makeover in Summer is completed, I plan to keep my basement almost entirely empty (except for a few items that I actually use for a few weeks each year). My rationale: If an item is not worth keeping upstairs in my appartment and I don't use it at least temporarily, there is no reason that I keep it to marinate in the basement *** |
| Here’s your chance to ask Gayle and Ed any question you’re curious about. It need not be related to this survey’s topic(s). If we think that your question—and our answer—might be useful or instructive to The Clutter Fairy Weekly audience, we’ll share them in an upcoming episode. | How do the above questions apply to each of you, i.e. to your decluttering endeavors ... and to your wonderful online events that are so much fun and are so helpful to us as your audience. Have an especially happy, successful and productive 2026!! And thank you for everything you have done for the Clutter Fairy community!! |
Be the first to comment!
Comment on this survey response
Please use the form below to share a comment on this survey response. We ask that you keep your comments courteous and respectful. Polite disagreement is fine, but abusive language won’t be tolerated. Your comment will be held briefly for moderation after submission.
"*" indicates required fields
