For the last few months I have felt a strong urge to get rid of the clutter in my life. I don’t know if this is just a stage of life that I have moved into or if God has put this on my heart for a change or move I am not yet aware of. Either way, clutter and hanging on to “stuff” I never use has really become something that I want to get rid of.

In the simplest form, I am looking through our “things” and deciding if we need it. If we don’t need it, then is it something that brings us true enjoyment? If it does neither, then it doesn’t belong in my life.

The other part of this project is keeping the “things” we do keep neat and organized. It seems so hard to stay focused theses days. We don’t need to add to the daily confusion by allowing “things” to take control of our lives.

For the most part, the focus has been on our home though I am sure that it will expand to the other parts of my life as I progress.

So far, it hasn’t always been easy, but it has been fulfilling. When you walk into a room that is free from clutter, there is just a since of peace that just makes you feel a calmnes and at ease with being.

Essayist Paul Graham says having too many possessions drags you down:

A house full of stuff can be very depressing. A cluttered room saps one’s spirits. One reason, obviously, is that there’s less room for people in a room full of stuff. But there’s more going on than that. I think humans constantly scan their environment to build a mental model of what’s around them. And the harder a scene is to parse, the less energy you have left for conscious thoughts. A cluttered room is literally exhausting.

Graham says he only buys things he absolutely needs and says that getting rid of his stuff was like taking off ankle weights.