How it felt to ditch my clutter

In 2013 my husband and I decided suddenly that the only home we had ever known was no longer meant to be home. So we decided to leave our home in Alaska for the sunny beaches of Florida. When we make a decision we trust the universe to conspire to make it happen for us so eleven days later he had interviewed for a job, accepted and had flown down there to find us a new home. I stayed behind and began sifting and sorting through all of our material possessions. I was captivated by the romance that was a new life of sun, salt and sand as was quickly awakened to the very real fact that we did not have $10,000 to ship our stuff to Florida and I had to get it all gone, and I had five weeks to do it.
I started by selling the big and the obvious things like beds, couches and tables. I thought that getting those out of the house would leave me with little work to do. Much to my surprise despite selling hundreds of dollars worth of furniture it didn’t make a dent in our clutter or things.
As I started to let it all go feelings of fear, lack and anxiety started to creep in. All I saw was wasted dollars in the form of clutter. I saw things I might need, you know just in case. I saw sentimental items that held the memories and stories of our old life.
I saw waste in the form of physical possessions we never even used. I saw the dark side of donating our things to local charities – I told myself I was gifting them our things, but the 40 car loads of junk still haunts me. It was junk to us, and junk to our home. In turn making it junk to those centers trying to shift and sort through it all and figure out a way to put a price on junk.
I started to feel a shift within me though. I started to feel lighter. I started to feel brave. I started to feel like I was making a divine intervention inside my soul that was forcing me to examine my priorities as a mother, wife and human.
When my clutter started to clear it was like it was leaving me as this naked and exposed version of myself. I started to realize that when we got to our home in Florida completely free from the physical things that had kept me a slave to my home I would have the time, energy, and freedom to be the mom I wanted to be.
I started to view my spending habits differently. I no longer felt the desire to go buy the kids toys who would be played with in the check out line of Target and then buried and forgotten at home. I no longer had any desire to purchase clothing that was trendy but not representative of my personally style. My need to fit in and keep up with the Jones’ disappeared.
I realized how silly it was to hold onto my clutter because I had spent money on it because it was not the same as having money in the bank and my clutter was not ever going to pay my bills. I learned to trust that I live an abundant life and I don’t need to hold onto every little thing that comes my way because I always have what I need, and I am always provided for. I learned how to be a mindful and intentional consumer.
Most importantly I unburied my soul from the depths of my clutter. When I ditched our clutter and moved to Florida my life changed.

I played with my kids without distractions of my to do list, frustration from the mess, and without self numbing with social media. We played presently together, instead of just being in the same house at the same time.

At night when the kids went to bed my to do list was done, my kitchen sink was free from dirty dishes and my home was at rest ready to hold us all in peace while we slept.

My mental clutter was gone and my peaceful space allowed my husband and I to spend time together and just be. We connected with full presence and our marriage blossomed in the freshly weeded garden that was our home.

I no longer hid from my emotional clutter. It was like having the cleared out physical space allowed those obtrusive emotions and old thought patterns to escape my body and release into the open space.

Most of all though, my family and I filled the white space of our home with love, peace, dreams, goals and positive intentions.

I also learned that anyone can break free from their clutter, without moving. Even you, my sweet friend.

Take a look at your physical space. What is no longer serving you? What is taking away your time, energy and clarity? What clutter is disguised as purposeful things in your home?

Find those things, pack them up and take them away. Thank it for being a part of your life, and then let it go. Learn to be an editor of your home and continually evaluate if the things in your physical space are serving your highest good. Know that you are loved and provided for, always. Take care, my friend and enjoy refilling your white space with everything that lights up your soul!

 

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