The Sandpaper Approach, and More

As mentioned previously, this is the year I plan to take the "Prepare To Move" approach to de-cluttering. Even though I don't plan to move anywhere, by year's end I hope to have our home de-cluttered to an extent that I would nonetheless be streamlined and "Move Ready."

I began in January with the bedroom, figuring that that relatively clutter-free room would be a good place to start. I'm happy to report, it's in much better shape than it was. Here's what I learned during the process:

• Good intentions won't clean your closet for you. You have to make a commitment in your calendar to de-cluttering sessions. Otherwise, you'll always find something more pressing to attend to. Make it a small, doable commitment. Try a 10-minute daily slot, as part of your morning or evening routine. Or pick a half hour time pocket on the weekend.
• Consider using the Sandpaper Approach to decluttering. In sanding wood, you start with a coarse grit, then a medium, then move to a fine. This outlook works well with sanding down your stuff, too. Start with the thought that you'll just take a quick look at that drawer/shelf/closet. Remove a few things. Plan to come back later and work a bit deeper into the layers. Hold off on fine-tuning choices about stuff until the last pass through. This makes the process less intimidating and eliminates the feeling of being overwhelmed that thwarts so many de-cluttering projects.
• It's OK to ignore some of your clutter. There are some areas of your life that it's simply not in your best interest to attempt to de-clutter. Either it's an area that's too emotional, for whatever reason, or an area that you're not likely to reduce much stuff in even with great effort on your part. Consider the cost-benefit issue of your time. If you're "stuck" in a particular area, just move on. Come back to it another day (or another year).
• Set standards. Before you tackle a particular clutter area, decide on your weeding standards. For clothing, your "get-rid-of-it" standards might be: get rid of anything 1) damaged, worn out, or stained; 2) that doesn't fit; 3) that hasn't been worn during the last year. Or approach it from the other direction: define narrow "keep it" standards, and then get rid of anything that doesn't measure up. Regardless of which type of standards you use, you'll occasionally want to make an exception; but having rules to work with make the reduction process a lot less painful.
• Follow the trail. Sometimes clutter occurs because of something entirely unrelated. For instance, I discovered a bunch of framed photos gathering dust under my bed. Why are they there? They're there because I want to hang them in the stairwell, but I don't want to hang them until I remove the stairwell wallpaper and repaint; and I can't easily remove the wallpaper and then paint as the wall is too high to do without scaffolding; and even were I to have scaffolding handy, I have a profound fear of heights; so I either need to hire someone to do it, or forget about it. So what to do about the framed photos? Ultimately, there's no resolving the issue until I deal with the stairwell. But in the meantime, I can at least dust the photos and store them in a better place than under the bed.

That's what I've learned so far. What have you learned so far this year?