There’s a common rule in decluttering: If you haven’t used it in [3mths, 6mths, 1 year, etc] get rid of it. It’s basically decluttering via time limits.
Of course, you could just dust the house in your prom dress every 3 months to avoid getting rid of that lovely pile of turquoise tulle.
(ok, my prom dress was a thin champagne pink polyester, but my sister’s prom dress was asymmetrical layers of amazing turquoise tulle, and her date wore white tails and my elementary school eyes decided late ’80s fashion was the most beautifully romantic thing in the world and I still haven’t recovered.)
Anyway, back to time limit decluttering.
Rules like this are nice and safe becuase they’re so clean cut and neat. You rely on the rules to make the decisions, removing the complications and emotions. The rules can be helpful to see what you use, see what you prioritize and help you make quick decisions when you need to.
But there’s something I’ve been realizing as I evaluate what I really need, as I work to uncover real.
Real isn’t usually about when I last used it.
My decisions are often more complicated than that.
I recently used mini clothespins to hang up slips of paper we were using in a game. As I cleaned out my craft dresser today, (this week will be all about what we do for fun: entertainment, hobbies, activities, etc.) I came across those clothespins. They’re cute, they’re in perfect shape and I used them within the last couple weeks. Slam dunk keeper. The rule of last use time limits just gave me an excuse to keep something I don’t really need. Except as I stopped to think about when I last used them, I realized I used them because they were there. If they weren’t there, I would have used something else.
Over and over I’ve been looking at items and saying some version of, “Oh, I need to keep this because I use it for….” When in reality, I could use any number of things.
Maybe I need to ask questions like, “Is this the only thing I can use for that purpose?” “If I didn’t have this, what would I use?”
I’m pretty sure donating my little bag full of mini wooden clothespins is not going to leave me high and dry or keep me from living my best life. buh-bye.
Uncovering Real 