Ten percent

Last month I told you about how Adverb and I have been making an effort to minimize unnecessary stress.  A big part of this effort is de-cluttering our living space and getting rid of some Stuff.

Now, we have nothing against Stuff per se.  In fact, we like Stuff.  But the thing is, we don't need all the Stuff we have.  Some of the ways having excess Stuff causes stress in our household:

• It's often physically in the way, cluttering up the kitchen table or the floor.
• Finding what we're looking for can be difficult.
• In the case of supplies we've kept for future projects to be done when we "get around to it," some Stuff comes with an annoying, nagging little voice that says, "When are you going to use meeeeee?".

Those are just a few examples.  So, some Stuff clearly needs to go, but the task of doing something about it can seem overwhelming.  One way we've made it more manageable is to implement a "ten percent" system: tackle the Stuff one category at a time, and get rid of ten percent of it.  I went through my closet and discovered I owned 20 (really?) skirts.  So I put two of them in the pile for the yard sale.  I had 90 novels on the living room book shelf, so I weeded out nine of them.  See?  The task sounds much less daunting when broken down into modest goals like this.  Here's a handy pie chart to illustrate: :)

Ta-da!  That slice of Stuff That Goes isn't huge, but it's certainly big enough to make a difference. 

We're not done with this project (not by a long shot) but already several big boxes of Stuff have left our house, we have more closet and shelf space, and we've made some extra cash at the yard sale.  Even better, we have the happy, peaceful feeling of knowing that the Stuff that remains is the Stuff we like the best--Stuff that is useful and/or gives us enjoyment.

Pie chart created at InstantPieChart.

Comments

[Gaidig]

I am totally for pairing down. It helps so much. Scott and I both did some purging before I moved, and I think Scott and I need to do some now that I'm here and what we have a lot of is really in our faces.

[Michele Ritan]

Brilliant! Thanks for the inspiration.

[Sølvi Elise]

Oh, I love the ten percent idea, it´s really smart! I´ve been de-cluttering too, latelig - and darn it´s a liberating feeling to see thois bags and boxes leave the house! But it takes time to get rid of all you don´t need. Happy to see you are well on your way.

And a diagam to show off the progress is always a plus! :-)

[Christy]

excellent well said. :)