Freedom from Stress by
Achieving Balance with Your Stuff

Spring is a beautiful time. It can also be a dangerous time in many parts of the country as the tornado season begins. Every year, tornadoes destroy numerous homes and businesses. Residents are forced to quickly decide what is important and what is unimportant.They get organized and leave the unimportant stuff behind as they take shelter from the storm.

Getting organized and leaving the unimportant stuff behind is an exercise that we all should practice on a regular basis.

Imagine the freedom from stress if all of us were a little more organized. Our homes would be less cluttered so we could find our car keys more easily, allowing us to leave for work earlier, drive more slowly to our jobs and have fewer accidents, which would relieve traffic congestion, lower air pollution in our cities and allow our citizens to lead less stressful, healthier lives.

Wow. Getting organized is a pretty powerful concept. So where do we get started?

The easiest place to start is at home. Here are five steps to begin your organizing journey.

Step 1: Close your eyes and imagine your home in a perfect state of organization. How would it look: Cleaner? More spacious? How do you look in it: Relaxed? Remember this picture, especially how relaxed you look.

Step 2: Understand that most of what is around you is just unimportant “stuff.” It is stuff that you have accumulated over the years, but it has no real personal tie to you. You spend time maintaining this stuff and protecting that stuff for no other reason than because it is there. You’re attached to it. So ask yourself: If I had 30 minutes to evacuate my home, what would I take? This illustrates how many things we own without real importance. Making this decision first, makes the next three steps less difficult as you have rid yourself of emotional burden.

Step 3: Decide what goes. On a scale of 1–10, with ten being everything you now own and zero being nothing, what amount of stuff would you prefer to own? Nine? Five? If five seems about right, your goal would be to eliminate one half of your items.

Step 4: Toss the Mess. Junk goes first because it is the quickest way to make space. Walk around your home with a plastic bag for trash. Toss out old papers, mismatched clothes, expired medicines, extra grocery bags (10 are enough unless you’re making a bag sculpture!), items that are dusty due to lack of use. Do the same with items to be sold or given to charity.

Enlist help if needed. Let your helpers hold the items while you decide. Touching them yourself increases attachment. (This is called a “Kinesthetic” reaction—go ahead and throw this word around—it sounds so intelligent!) Place items you just cannot sort in one box. When you’re done, mark its contents, date it and put it away. If you do not need it next year, get rid of it—unopened.

Step 5: Sort The Rest. This step is harder but keep your visual goal in sight. Bring in a box and take all the items you want to keep but that do not belong in that room. Carry these to the correct room and put them away properly, if possible. When you’re done with the first room, repeat the process until all rooms are clutter free. This work can be scheduled for one room per day or week.

Cleanout accomplished. But now you will need to stay ahead of the clutter. Organizing is a process, not a onetime event. Spend 15 minutes a day on the task of staying ahead of the clutter. And keep the following tips in mind:

So remember the process: Keep sight of what matters to you. The goal is to purge what does not work for you and organize the rest. As you begin to apply the five steps, you will make new decisions about what stuff you want to devote time to acquire and maintain. You will be paring down, examining your habits and arranging your life to have more balance to enjoy the items and activities you love.