Thursday 1 March 2018

Let's get real


If you've ever put the words, "decluttering", "minimalism", or "tidying" into something like Google, Pinterest or Instagram then I feel for you. Other than using that search to find your way to our website or blog, the results can be rather confronting. Beautiful rooms, perfect cupboards, austere living areas and offices so impossibly organised that productivity must be at insanely high levels. The problem is that this is not reality and for most of us, Alison and I included, it's simply not realistic. 

Let me give you another example; fitness. It's a huge industry and a lot of us would like to be fitter and healthier. But searching for those terms will have you viewing images of people who must spend their whole day in the gym, hair removal salon and kale juice bar. Again, it's just not something that we can achieve or should even aspire to.

Life is "warts and all" whether we like it or not. For every person that has mastered the art of tidying up to perfection there are thousands of us who have much more in our lives than amazingly folded towels or an anally retentive filing system for bills. We're the regular ones and none of us should feel guilty about it.

I like the idea of "living more with less". It's my catchphrase at the moment but I've realised the need for balance between living with just enough to get by and allowing myself to be happy.

Wardrobes tend to be a disaster zone for many of us. I looked at mine a while ago, groaned and just closed the door. I'd been looking at wardrobe hacks on a number of internet pages and it just depressed me. How could I go from the equivalent of Shrek's swamp to something that was Instagram worthy? The answer is that I can't. But what I have managed to do is make it functional. Over a little while I spent short amounts of time, no more than 15 minutes, looking through what was in there and taking action. There's still a mess in there but there is less mess. I can find what I'm looking for and some of my friends have benefited from unworn cycling gear that didn't fit me. It's not perfect in the "look at me" sense but the general declutter and rough organisation has made me a lot happier.


Before.....

 And after!


If you'd like to chat about living more with less then reach out to us here at declutr. We're not perfect, we don't judge, and we like to help.


-Rob