Friday 3 August 2018

Life Decluttering

Photo by Brandon Lopez on Unsplash

Lately, I've been feeling so cluttered. Not only in my surroundings but also in my mind. There is so much going on at once that it can feel so overwhelming and so easy to lose track of what is going on around me. I decided that I needed to have a proper life declutter, both for my surroundings and mind. Here's what I've been doing to tackle all this decluttering!

Digital

I've had most of my digital devices for years, and there has been such a buildup of files and browser bookmarks! On my phone, I have way too many apps which I never use and are just sitting there taking up precious memory. On my laptop, I have deleted a lot of lecture slides from previous years and pretty much cleared out my downloads folder, the source of most of my anguish. I have reorganised the files on my desktop and moved a lot of them to an external hard drive for storage, rather than letting them clog up my laptop. On my phone, I have deleted all the apps that I don't get anything from anymore. These are games that I haven't played in months and apps for media players that I don't watch anything on (eg. NowTV). Now, my desktop and phone are so much clearer and I only keep what I use. It is less stressful finding files and apps and I have freed up tonnes of memory!

I have also done a complete overhaul of my scheduling and general productivity habits. I use Google Calendar for all my planning and scheduling since it's so easy to organise my days into blocks of time and keep track of everything I have planned during the week. I have been storing and creating my files on Google Drive and I have reorganised all my folders in this. I have stopped using the social media that I don't enjoy and I have pretty much simplified all of my digital day-to-day activities.

Clothing

Who else is completely guilty of hoarding clothes that you never wear? I definitely am! However, when I moved to my new flat and I was unpacking my clothes, I realised that I had way too many items that I don't really like or enjoy wearing that much. So as I was unpacking, I bagged up a good portion of my clothes to donate and I also threw away some old tatty underwear. Decluttering your clothes leaves lots of space for new clothes, but I'm on a spending ban so I'm just learning to appreciate the clothes that I have kept a bit more. I am getting more use out of everything I have kept and I feel better about clothes shopping whenever I do decide to treat myself!

Surfaces and surroundings

Clutter. Clutter everywhere! In my old room in my student house, all my surfaces were completely covered and it made my space feel so claustrophobic and messy all the time! I hated it and always blamed it on the fact I didn't have a lot of space in the first place. Nope, I just owned a lot of pointless stuff that was cluttering up my room and making it feel crowded. Now that I have donated and thrown away a lot of stuff that I don't particularly love, my space looks so much tidier and is way easier to clean! I have realised that clutter makes me super stressed and I would rather own less and be tidy than own lots and let all my items completely take over! Now, everything has its place and is neatly stored exactly where I know to find it.

Walls

I loved all the posters on the walls of my student house room! I had so many and they all represented something about me. However, when I was moving and I took them all down, I realised how much I love plainer walls and how much lighter the space became when there wasn't so much covering the walls. In my new place, I have a couple of small items hanging on my wall and three beautiful prints by Jessica Gutteridge. My rooms feel so light and open and I love it!

Products

I own too many skincare products. However, I have not bought any lately and I have been working my way through everything I already own. The box that I use to store my skincare and body care products used to be very full but now it is looking pretty empty and I have been able to try out all the products and figure out what works with my skin best. Not having all those products all over the place has really decluttered my space and I know exactly what to repurchase when my spending ban is over!

Mind

Finally, I have been taking steps to sort through my thoughts and declutter my mind! I have been journalling more again and getting all my pent-up feelings down on paper. It's a weight off my chest and I like to look back through the pages and see how I have progressed into a better place due to counselling, medication and other factors. I have also started exercising more. When I am working out, nothing is on my mind and I am just focussed on the task at hand, which is so refreshing! I am hoping to get back into running next and clear my mind in the outdoors!

Have you been doing any life decluttering lately? x

No comments:

Post a Comment

Follow Me @jessistryingblog