As seen in the Dayton Daily news on December 13, 2013.
I started writing this week’s column while sitting on the deck of a cruise ship. I was hired by their
program director to teach organizing classes as part of their enrichment program.
I was a bit skeptical about people aboard a cruise ship stopping their festivities to attend seminars on
how to organize their home. To my surprise, the conference room filled up with vacationers eager to
learn new ways to tackle their clutter back home.
If people are attending classes during their vacation to learn how to deal with the excess they have
created in their homes, it’s time to take a serious look at what we’re keeping.
I asked them, “How many of you are having a great week?” All the hands in the room shot up and
smiles and laughter filled the room.
They were happy, yet they had few belongings with them. This made me question, can we learn
something from this?
If you start thinking like a vacationer, only keeping what you use and what adds value to your life in
the present, you could travel light and be happier. By traveling light, you could pick up and go when
opportunities present themselves.
What we say makes us happy and what actually makes us happy can be two different things. Below
are items found in people’s homes that they place high emotional value on, but aren’t enjoying them
like they thought they would.
Books: People store books even though they have little time to read. Books are heavy, take up lots of
space and need dusting. Paring down your collection might actually free up more time for you to
read.
Craft items: Your craft rooms are filled with items you found on sale, leftover from past projects or
supplies you might need someday. Now the room is so cluttered you can’t find what you need and no
longer have room to work. Surplus craft items can actually keep you from doing crafts.
Entertainment media: You have a collection of record albums, but no turn table, a library of
movies, but no time to watch them and CD’s even though you use your iPod. You keep these items
because someday you are going to do something with them, but in reality you just store them and
allow them to be in your way.
Photos: You say photos are important to you, yet they are thrown in drawers around your home and
boxed up with the other clutter in your storage areas. You don’t enjoy them because they are
disorganized and the thought of tackling this project is nauseating.
Pare down to a manageable amount of photos and you will treasure them instead of storing them.
Other extras you may need to part with: Memorabilia, excess electronic files, articles cut from magazines, paperwork and souvenirs. Are these items adding real value to your life or are they just keeping you busy?
I know firsthand how hard it is to let go of things. I’m not asking you to part with any of these items if you truly enjoy them. Let go of someday items so you can enjoy living in the present moment.
As you let go, focus on what you are gaining instead of what you’re losing. Gaining more vacation time sounds great to me.