Like to listen? Check out this podcast episode, inspired by this article.
Here’s an embarrassing fact about me: I’m a clutterbug.
This doesn’t mean I like clutter. In fact, quite the opposite — I vastly prefer being surrounded by order and spaciousness, but my whole life I’ve been better at accumulating than letting go.
Once upon a time there was an artist whose marriage fell apart, forcing her to move from a two-bedroom house with a yard, dining room, laundry room and small office/breakfast nook to a small one-bedroom apartment. Her entire studio — industrial drafting table, flat files, file cabinet, light table, computer desk, etc., all lived in her living room.
The artist loved that little apartment, but it was a tight squeeze, and always a chaotic mess, and she wanted so much to be surrounded by order! So in a desperate attempt to cool the overwhelm, she bought every organizing container, tool and book she could get her hands on. [Read more…]
There was a time, not so long ago, when I really didn’t like my life. I worked too hard, got too little sleep, scorned myself for not being perfect, and basically didn’t treat myself very well.
“This is NOT what I want my life to look like,” I used to grumble, typically several times a day.
I was grateful for all the blessings I had (which were a lot), but I was plum worn out.
In the years since then, I’ve made great strides in creating a life I love — a big, bold, creative life, in which I’m feeding my creative hungers and pursuing my goals without sucking myself dry (usually).
What changed between then and now?
Certainly having a husband who really champions and supports me helps a lot. Ultimately, though, each one of us is 100% responsible for our own happiness, and I’ve done a lot of work, internally and externally, to change my life around.
Off the top of my head, here’s a partial list of what I’ve worked on in the past several years that has made a difference (the operative phrase here being “worked on” — I’m still working on these, and consider them works in progress!):
Looking back on that list, it all really boils down to my Golden Formula:
Self-Awareness + Self-Compassion = the Key to Everything Good. (Click to tweet!)
Self-awareness = Asking: How does this make me feel? Is this helping or harming me? What do I truly need right now? What am I truly hungry for right now?
Self-Compassion = Reminding myself I’m human, that my mistakes are human mistakes, and treating myself with the same kind of loving kindness I’d treat a friend with.
Let’s use my Golden Formula to take a look at the last bullet point above, clearing clutter out of my life.
When I approach life through a lens of self-awareness, I see that being surrounded by mounds of clutter drains my energy, makes me feel less productive and less competent, makes me cranky, and generally blocks my energy flow.
The self-compassionate response is not to beat myself up for having a clutter-filled studio, but instead to remind myself that I’m human, and gently guide myself to take baby steps in the direction of clearing that clutter out!
Self-awareness helps me realize that I’m about 5,000% better about doing tasks I’m resistant to when I have a gang of kindred spirits gathered around me, walking the same path and cheering each other on.
So I created the Great ClutterBust back in April to gather such a tribe around me, and we achieved miracles, not least of which was that I succeeded in transforming my Studio of Doom into a studio that actually makes me smile when I walk in the door!
It was such a success, that I knew the Great ClutterBust needed to be a regular program. (After all, I have the entire rest of the house to tackle! 🙂 )
So six months later, on October 1st, I started the second Great ClutterBust.
My intention this time around was to get to done on the last 10% of clutter still remaining in my studio: the boxes of slides (yes, slides!) that had been taking up multiple cubic feet of space for decades; the boxes of data CDs and DVDs that I haven’t touched in years; the box of unknown papers to be shredded, recycled, or archived; the pile of stuff to be sold or given away accumulating in the living room (aka, Outbound Mountain — hat tip to Denice for coming up with that great moniker).
Well, I’ve done some of that.. but then last week happened.
Last week I got almost no physical clutterbusting done at all, yet it was perhaps one of the single most successful clutterbusting weeks in my life.
Why?
One word: YNAB.
Actually, YNAB isn’t a word at all, it’s an acronym — it stands for You Need A Budget (aff).
What the…?
It’s a piece of software, but it’s also an entire system and mindset for how to manage your finances, and in one week it has already changed my life for the better.
Before YNAB, I felt like I was always walking through fog when I dealt with my money. I have a bookkeeper (ah yes! another recent quality-of-life improvement! forgot to mention that one above) and excellent software to track money I’ve already spent, but when it came to making decisions about whether or not to spend money in the present and future, I was always in the dark.
I had no idea of what my real money situation was.
A few weeks ago I paid my very last payment on the former Enormous Mountain of Debt (hooray! happydance! celebration galore!), and MM and I had a number of very fun discussions about what we wanted to do with the monthly money that used to go toward debt repayment. We knew we wanted to save or invest it, but how much to allocate to retirement savings vs. home improvement vs. saving for travel vs. saving for other stuff??
Enter YNAB.
I’d been hearing murmurs about YNAB for months, if not years, but it wasn’t until last week that I finally clicked over to the website, youneedabudget.com (aff), dug in, and downloaded the software (and the free iPhone app).
I was a bit skeptical at first, because the way YNAB asks you to think about budgeting is totally different from any other budgeting protocol I’d ever experienced. It kind of threw me off, and it took me awhile to wrap my head around it.
But thanks to the excellent (and FREE!) classes on how to use the (easy and brilliant) YNAB system and software, within a few days I was up to speed, and a total convert.
(Confession: being the quintessential diver-inner, I took the entire offerings of YNAB classes over the span of four days: half-hour intro on Sunday, three hour-long classes on Monday, and the final two classes on Wednesday. Five and a half hours in total! No wonder I didn’t get to my physical clutterbusting! Do not feel you need to do the same! I’m just obsessive this way.)
By Wednesday MM and I had fully embraced the four rules of YNAB methodology:
Rule One: Give Every Dollar a JobWe’ve already been spending less — thanks to about a thousand times greater awareness of where our money is going — we have a clear picture of our finances for the first time, and we’ve created (and are actively implementing) a savings and investment strategy!
Perhaps just as important, we’re working together to make it all happen. It’s been a delightful surprise to find that with the help of YNAB, talking outright about our spending, and making decisions together as to how to allocate our dollars, has been a fun bonding exercise!
Win-win-win!
The upshot is, as I’ve giddily told MM about fifty times, we finally have a handle on our financial life! We finally have a financial life — with clear, specific goals and a path to achieving them.
And although I did not spend those five and a half hours tackling the physical clutter I’d intended them for, I realized that getting set up with YNAB counted as clutterbusting just as much, if not more, than my weeks of transforming the Studio of Doom into the studio I now love.
The clarity of really understanding — and having control over — our financial situation has brought me the same kind of serenity and calm and sense of freedom and ease of breathing as clearing out all the physical clutter that was blocking me up.
I have literally wished for this kind of clarity for my entire life!
In fact, in the greater scheme of things, converting to the YNAB way may very well have a more extensive impact on my quality of life than tackling the Studio of Doom, and that’s saying a lot!
I have been evangelizing about YNAB to all my friends and family (hey, it’s hard not to enthuse about something that has had such a profoundly positive impact on your life!) I really think it’s a brilliant system, and encourage you to check it out for yourself.
You can implement the system whether or not you buy the software, but there’s a 34-day free trial of the software, and all the classes are totally free (and pure instruction — no sales pitch). Plus if you’re lucky, you might just win a full license — they give one away in every free class!
In fact, I won one myself in the intro class! 🙂
If you do decide to buy the software ($60), you can save $6 (10%) by clicking on one of my YNAB links, like this one here. (Full disclosure: I’ll also make a $6 commission if you buy. Though I’d be evangelizing about YNAB regardless.)
I wish I’d had YNAB years ago… If I’d had it fifteen, or even six years ago, I’d never have gotten into debt.
Aw, well, correct forward, and better is better! Life with YNAB is definitely better.
Meanwhile, if you’re itching to bust some clutter yourself, whether of the physical or financial kind, or any other kind of clutter (“to-do list” clutter, digital clutter, habit clutter, schedule clutter), due to popular demand by members of the October Great ClutterBust, I’m running a special Holiday Edition of the Great ClutterBust.
Join us, and you’ll be amazed at how FUN it can be to bust clutter!
The session officially starts on November 12th and runs through December 19th, but register now and you’ll get instant access to our rockin’ private Facebook community, and the Great ClutterBust resource page (chock full of worksheets and questions to help you clarify your clutterbusting goals), so you can get a jump on clearing your clutter out NOW.
Click here to read more and register now.
Hope to see you inside!
Note: The links to YNAB in this post are all affiliate links. You’ll save 10% ($6) if you end up making a purchase through one of my links, but I’ll also make $6 in affiliate commissions, and I am ethically (and legally) bound to make sure you know that.
If you don’t want to send a commission my way, you can still get 10% off by finding someone else’s affiliate link elsewhere online (they’re all over the internet — just do a Google search for YNAB discount), and send the $6 to them. Or go straight to youneedabudget.com and pay the full $60. I’ll never know the difference. 🙂
PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!
If you know me at all, you know I’m a big believer in “tiny and daily.”
Fifteen minutes a day got me back to making art after over a decade of miserable stuckness, because “ridiculously achievable” time and achievement goals are just so much more likely to get done!
Baby steps will get you anywhere, baby!
That said, I’m also a believer in deep dives on occasion — both for the fun stuff (which we put off because of fear and resistance) and the not-so-fun stuff (which we put off because, well, it’s not fun!)
I’ve written elsewhere that my ideal is probably a combination of both: tiny, ongoing commitments, to keep the ball rolling along; and occasional deep dives for the full-immersion experience, and the satisfaction of making great, big chunks of progress.
After years of on-again, off-again attempts at clutterbusting my studio in the “tiny and daily” style, I had only barely scratched the surface, so I finally took the bull by the horns last April, and went for a deep dive. I knew I’d make about 5,000 times more progress if I rallied a gang of kindred spirits around me, because their progress would motivate me, and mine would motivate them, and we’d all help keep each other accountable.
So the first Great ClutterBust was born!
I am not kidding when I say I accomplished miracles, and that I was not the only one. Here’s just one piece of what Allison accomplished:
And here’s just a piece of what I accomplished:
I don’t know about everyone else, but there’s still a lot more for me to do — probably enough for several Great ClutterBusts. It’s been six months, the time is ripe, what with the holidays approaching, so I am gearing up for another deep dive, and YOU are invited to join me!
Announcing the Return of the Great ClutterBust!If you’re weighed down by clutter in any part of your life — physical clutter, digital clutter, financial clutter, “to-do list” clutter, time clutter, habit clutter — come join the fun!
You can read all about it and register here, for the price YOU name.
It all starts next Wednesday, October 1st, but register now and get a jump on it!
During the first Great ClutterBust in April, there was a lot of marveling over in our private Facebook group that clutterbusting could be fun! Doing it with a bunch of really supportive, loving, creative, and FUN people made all the difference.
Who knew?
Come surf the wave we started six months ago! I hope to see you inside!
PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!
A package arrived in the mail on Monday. I’d ordered it from Amazon, and I’d been waiting with baited breath for it to arrive.
Nothing hugely exotic or romantic; I’d ordered a simple brayer.
Two brayers, in fact: hard rubber and soft, the hard one with the black rubber being identical to the one I sold for pennies on the dollar (ahem) at a yard sale a couple of months back.
Oops…
Clutterbusting, it seems, can go a bit too far.
I divested myself of the (quite possibly never-used) brayer, a quart-sized bag full of erasers (for carving stamps with), and my (granted, very limited) collection of rubber stamps, including some letters I’d carved myself.
At the time, I couldn’t imagine I’d have a need for these things, and my goal was the rid myself of the weight of all the stuff I had but wasn’t using.
It seemed only logical to sell the brayer and stamp stuff. In fact, I was proud of myself for letting go.
Then I signed up for an online class with Kelly Rae Roberts, and guess what was listed on the supply list.
Yep, a brayer.
At first I figured I’d wait and watch the videos, and see whether I really, really needed one. Surely I could get by without, right?
Well, yeah, I could have, but it just looked way too much fun. A brayer seemed like a textural tool I’d want to use, like, forever onward.
So I bit the bullet, shelled out fifteen or twenty bucks, and bought myself two new brayers, which have been getting a lot of loving since then.
This is one of my favorite pieces that shows off some brayering (the white layers):
It would be easy to conclude that the moral of this story is to hang on to everything, because you never know when you might use it, and in fact, that was pretty much my life philosophy for a long, long time.
Which is why I now have clutter issues…
Clearly holding on to everything, just in case, is not the optimal solution, so what is?
Well, for that I have to thank Jeannie. She recommended a book she was reading, SHED Your Stuff, Change Your Life, by Julie Morgenstern, so I placed another order with good, old Amazon.
I’m about a third of the way into the book, and I have decided that Morgenstern is a genius. She has pinpointed one of the biggest problems when it comes to clutterbusting: once you’re ready to start letting go (which really requires relinquishing an old identity… which is why it’s so godforsakenly hard), it is all too easy to be so indiscriminate and ruthless about clearing stuff out that you get rid of stuff you regret letting go of later.
Morgenstern’s solution? To come up with a theme, or vision, for the future you’re walking into. “A broad goal or feeling,” she writes, “an overarching simple expression of the adventure you’d like to be on.”
In other words, if your life were a book, what would the title of this chapter be?
The 2 1/2 years when I went on 57 first dates, for example, might have been titled The Quest to Find My Life Partner.
When the relationship that started at the end of those 2 1/2 years broke up, it started a new chapter, which might have been titled The Quest to Find My Life.
My current chapter title might be Creative Expansion.
Why is it important to have a theme for the chapter you’re starting (or in the middle of) now? Well, it gives you a sense of clarity about what you want to clear out, and why, and what you want to keep, and why.
As Morgenstern writes, “your theme will be your beacon, focus, and filter, paving the way….”
Had I read SHED Your Stuff, Change Your Life and come up with my theme of Creative Expansion before I first ran the Great ClutterBust, back in April, perhaps I would have held onto that brayer (and stamping supplies), and not be kicking myself now for spending money on something I’d just sold for pennies at a yard sale…
Ah, well. Correct forward, as they say, and I will soon have a great opportunity to do just that, because I’m running another Great ClutterBust in October!
In the last Great ClutterBust I totally overhauled my studio, but I have a lot more clutter still to bust — physical clutter, time clutter, habit clutter — all of which Morgenstern tackles in SHED Your Stuff, Change Your Life, so I’m excited to go into the next Great ClutterBust (which starts on October 1st!) with a much clearer vision, now that I have a theme.
Here’s some of what I accomplished with the first Great ClutterBust:
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
Reading SHED Your Stuff, Change Your Life is the ideal preparatory read as I get ready to do another deep dive into clutterbusting, starting October 1st. If you’ve got clutter to clear out, of any variety, you may want to check out Morgenstern’s book yourself, and I hope you’ll join me for the Great ClutterBust! Sign up on my mailing list to get notified when I open up registration.
Onward, ho!
PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!
