You know you have a clutter problem when you can’t eat dinner at the dining room table or sit on the couch due to all of the stuff. Yet how often have you told yourself you simply can’t get rid of a certain item because you paid a lot of money for it or it was a gift from a now-deceased relative? You may have fallen prey to clutter excuses! Here are four of the most deadly ones (and how you can work around them):
1. “I may need it someday.” Yes, you may, but you also need breathing room and open space in your house. Are you foregoing space that you and your family need NOW for an item that you MIGHT need in the future? What would happen if you met the needs you have now instead of preparing for a future that might never happen?
2. “It’s valuable.” If it’s worth so much money, then take action and turn that sucker into cash. After all, you don’t actually have $400 until you take your $400-valued childhood toy and sell it.
3. “I paid a lot for it.” Realizing you made a mistake that cost you your own hard-earned money is hard. So ask yourself, how long do I have to hang on to the item until I’ve gotten my money’s worth? Again, hanging on to an item that you paid $400 for is not the same as having $400 in your wallet. And after a few years, most things start to depreciate, so what you paid then is not what it is worth now. Don’t let a past mistake stop you from dealing with the present realistically.
4. “Someone gave it to me.” Chances are the person who gave it to you did not want to give you a burden. So if you do not enjoy the gift and its clutter is a burden to you, feel free to discard the gift but keep the memory of your loved one’s generosity.
Don’t let these clutter excuses hold you back from living in the kind of space you deserve. Challenge those excuses and reap the rewards of relaxing in a tidy, open space.
