Unstuffing

decluttering wellness

I have a problem.

and that problem is called STUFF.

Across from me on my dresser are a bunch of nail polishes. My nails have been painted for roughly 3 days since April. My wall boasts a whole shelf full of sprays/perfumes that I rarely think to use because I have endless amounts in my bathroom, too. I see a tin FULL of pens and pencils and piles of clothes I’ll have to cram into my dresser. It’s suffocating.

As if to prove my point, I went to grab my camera (which I brought in from my car an hour ago) to take a picture of it, and I cannot find it. I know it’s somewhere in all of my STUFF, but I can’t find it.

Here’s a weird thought. Part of the reason why it’s so easy for me to carelessly spend my money is because I have so much STUFF that none of it has any real significant value, ESPECIALLY if I buy it cheap. What’s ONE MORE NAIL POLISH I won’t use? I already have like 45 of them, so one more doesn’t require much thought. Another cute notebook to add to my pile of unused journals? Sure… I’ll eventually get to them.

The clutter in my life has a weird affect on my spending habits. I don’t really need anything, but I buy things that are cute because it might look cute tucked away the gazillion other cute things I’ve purchased in the past few years. Buying something new doesn’t create any sort of real change in my life because I buy things to fill holes… that weren’t there. I’m guilty of this on the very smallest scale (which adds up to big problems!). Sometimes I buy a new wire basket in the $1 section at Target because it’s really cute. But I didn’t need a new wire basket. Now I try to figure out where to put it and what to put in it, and I often give up and it ends up in random places because it’s a completely irrelevant purchase, even if it was only $1.

aaaaaand I’m done. I’m officially on a mission to unstuff my life. I don’t want the mental, physical and financial clutter of collecting material possessions.

I’m starting with that dresser I wrote about earlier. My goal, by this time next week, is to have unstuffed the top of my dresser. That doesn’t mean that I’m going to throw it all away, but it’s either going to be utilized, organized, or given away.

Don’t judge me, but I’m about to post pictures I took on my phone as a starting point. You know, a “before.” Keeping it real here, people. Keeping it real.

too much stuff // stephanieorefice.net

too much stuff // stephanieorefice.net

 

20 thoughts on “Unstuffing

  1. I love the décor and colors of your room!! Never mind the mess…LOL! But, I can surely relate. My family and I started on a mission a few months ago to declutter and work towards a more minimalistic mindset. Have you ever read Joshua Becker’s blog, “Becoming Minimalist”? He has a wealth of great advice for simplifying and decluttering there. It takes a lot of time and intentionality to do this, but we have to start somewhere. We have decluttered so much, and it feels and looks like we haven’t made a dent!!! One day at a time, as our dear Lord taught us. 🙂 God bless you, my friend.

    1. thanks cheryl!!! hopefully the decor and everything will get even better when you can see it all and the things i have are carefully chosen and strategically placed! haha. i haven’t read that book – but it definitely sounds right up my alley, so i’ll have to check it out! what are some of the best decluttering tips you’ve picked up on? i’m a blank canvas… teach me!!! 🙂

      1. Oh, wow, thanks so much for asking and for inviting me to share!! Okay, so, I wrote a post about some of my favorite tips here – http://cherylsmithministries.blogspot.com/2014/04/eleven-de-cluttering-organizing-tips.html – in case you care to read it. And, this post – http://cherylsmithministries.blogspot.com/2015/01/one-word-for-2015.html – talks about it, too. One of the neat things God has been teaching us here lately is how good it feels to bless others and to give away the things we don’t need or want, rather than holding on to them and trying to sell them. I wrote about that and our journey towards minimalism here – http://cherylsmithministries.blogspot.com/2015/05/minimalism-how-much-stuff-do-we-really.html. I can’t begin to tell you how good it feels to unload this stuff…and do you know what? It is like after we let the stuff go, we don’t even miss it…or even remember a lot of it. My worst thing is letting go of sentimental stuff. I really struggle with that, especially if it has special memories of Mom and Dad attached to it. They are both gone, and I miss them so much…it is just really hard to let certain things go, even though I know I should! I hope these ideas help!!! God bless you on your journey. Oh, and by the way, Joshua’s blog is here – http://www.becomingminimalist.com/. Oh, my…he has a TON of great info. there. He also lists other great minimalist and life-simplifying blogs for you to check out. I could spend hours doing this, but then I am defeating my minimalistic goals by over-indulging!! LOL!

  2. I’m the exact same with stuff. There’s always SO MUCH laying around, and I’m always adding to it. It’s funny because right now I’m living with my parents because of my summer job but all my stuff is still in my apartment. I had to pack for the whole summer in just two suitcases and leave everything else, and, surprisingly, I’m actually not missing any of the stuff. I think I’ll definitely need to attempt to declutter when I go back. Good luck with your attempt!

    1. it’s so hard because sometimes it’s like.. you don’t need or think about stuff, but you rediscover it and you’re like THIS IS SO AWESOME I HAVE BEEN MISSING OUT ON SO MUCH!!! haha. best of luck decluttering for you, too!! something to blog about ;D

  3. Ugh I have waaay too much stuff too! I need to purge even more. But then Michael has tons of stuff too and I’m not sure he’s as convinced as me that we need to get rid of some stuff. I hate moving, but I feel like when we move I’ll find a bunch of stuff I forgot I even had and I can just get rid of it!

    1. yeah! moving would probably be SO GOOD for having to declutter. either having to put it in the boxes or taking it out and being like “wellll actually…..”

      i wonder if it’d be easier to just take ALL MY THINGS and put them in boxes and pretend like i’m moving back into my room, haha. so hard to unstuff!

  4. I did a massive declutter in January and then showed no mercy on my closet a couple of months later. It was the BEST idea! I got rid of a tone of stuff and honestly, I haven’t missed any of it. Like, at all. You will feel so much better with space!

    1. did you do the capsule wardrobe?? the closet part would be SO HARD for me because i absolutely LOVE clothes. i don’t really splurge on clothes that often, so it’s mostly just thrift store finds and stuff… but i super love clothes. any decluttering tips??

      1. I started on a wardrobe capsule, and then hung it up. I really want to try it this fall since I need to buy a new wardrobe anyway as my clothes are all too big (good problems!). It’s hard though! As for tips, I stocked up on cheap storage at IKEA on my last visit there, but I also showed no mercy. If I hadn’t worn it or used it in the last three months or it didn’t fit, it went.

    1. THANKS!!!! i’m looking forward to not feeling cluttered just by looking at my room haha. i read about how your bedroom is supposed to be all peaceful and stuff.. but yeah, not mine.

    1. julie! twice a month is still admirable! i need to paint my nails tonight and get on it. it’s weird how we just kind of hoard stuff at a quicker rate than we can use it, huh?

  5. oh! hey! when we get together, do you want some extra nail polish i have? i have doubles of a couple julep colors. did you sew the shirts??? 🙂

  6. i am the same way!!! i started de-cluttering our house earlier this year…but somehow we have managed to cram so much more stuff back into every nook & on every counter top we have! i think we justify it by saying we will have a bigger house someday soon and will need things to fill it with…but right now we have a small house, so we just need to de-clutter!! that is my goal for this year… sadly i am not doing too well at the halfway point 🙂

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