When I lived in Manhattan, I would often see a billboard that read, "Mini-storage can change your life." Now maybe that saying has more meaning to those who reside in apartments the size of walk-in closets, but I think it holds a universal truth.
No matter where we live, most of us have too much stuff. Way too much. In fact, the amount of stuff we accumulate only grows as we increase the square footage of our living spaces. So this advice holds for all: Clear the clutter. In your closets, your drawers, your desk, your bedroom; whether it's hidden away or in full view, clutter takes up energetic space.
And time. How many hours a week do you spend looking for a stapler, or a pair of scissors, your keys, that book you were reading, your favorite earrings-because there's not a place for everything, so everything can never be in its place? And how much money do you waste buying items that you know you already have-somewhere? It's stressful, frustrating, expensive and exhausting.
So it's time to edit out the extraneous, the irreparable, the unused and the unsightly, it's time to get down to basics. If you have difficulty letting go of things, you might want to enlist a friend to lend support during the decluttering process. ("No I don't think you'll ever wear that mumu again, toss it Harry.") And while I usually advocate tackling the job you most want to avoid first, this may be a case where you need to condition yourself into de-cluttering shape by starting with the area that has the fewest emotional strings attached.
