March of Trash 2023 is about to start. This is the month-long online clutter clearing challenge. Again this year, the challenge page is at http://www.clutter.guru/marchoftrash/.
This year, there will be more content on the Take Chances Pay Attention channel on YouTube, which has a new address this year: https://www.youtube.com/@takechancespayattention.
Part of our cultural indoctrination, one message among countless others, is the idea that there will be a period of time when conditions are not so favorable. When that happens, we are told, there will be a chance to do a few things that on a normal day you would not have time to do. This is the “rainy day” of English-language lore. And while there is a grain of truth in this idea, the opening is much smaller than we have been led to believe.
My favorite example for this is the extended power failure. The last time the lights went out, did you take the opportunity to wash all the windows in your home? Or did you do whatever important chore it is that does not require power?
March of Trash asks you to take action on clutter every day for a month.
The mere fact that the plastic groccery bag dispenser is filled to overflowing is a sign that something is out of balance.
It’s time for March of Trash — the annual challenge to create a clutter clearing habit during the month of March. To simplify the challenge, it has been all put together on one page this year. Read the details, download the daily clutter clearing prompts, and follow the action at http://www.clutter.guru/marchoftrash/.
Today would be a good day to throw away those old compact fluorescent light bulbs — even if you are still using them.
March of Trash asks you to take action on clutter every day for a month.
What if clutter could put on marching shoes and march out of the house on its own?
That’s almost what it’s like when you reach the point of perfect clarity about what things you want to keep and where your life is going.
If you knew exactly what stays and what goes, it would still be a chore to carry out the things that don’t stay — but this work is just a matter of some hours, bags, gloves, and sweat. It is not so hard compared to the decisions you have to make.
March of Trash asks you to take action on clutter every day for a month.
For many of us, bulk item day is near the end of the month. Props to anyone who took the opportunity to rid their house of something large and unneeded.
March of Trash asks you to take action on clutter every day for a month.
Many of us are stuck at home more than usual this season, and this can be an opportune time to clear clutter from the home. Some of the unpleasant emotions of being stuck in a place involuntarily can help you focus on different parts of your clutter. I explore four of these emotions below. When you recognize these emotional reactions in yourself, you can think of them as prompts to clear clutter of specific kinds or in specific places.
March of Trash asks you to take action on clutter every day for a month.
When it’s long past time to clean the desk, where do you start?
You may have to start at the top. The only practical way to clear a desk is to consider items in the order that they are in. Any other approach would risk ending up in a bigger mess than you see already.
March of Trash asks you to take action on clutter every day for a month.
If you are busy every day, the time pressure changes your clutter clearing priorities.
March of Trash asks you to take action on clutter every day for a month.
Your home could be your primary place of power. If it doesn’t feel like it, the likely obstacle is clutter. Possessions you aren’t using don’t add anything to your feeling of power or your productivity. Instead, they sap your energy. To boost your power and the sense of power that you associate with home, remove some of the unused possessions.
Many of us have extra time on our hands and have been spending more time than usual at home, wondering what to do. If this is you, then of course this is the ideal time to improve your living conditions by taking away the excess stuff from your surroundings.
At its core, clutter clearing is so simple it almost doesn’t require an explanation. The excess stuff is essentially anything you don’t use. Take this away, and you free up more space for yourself. With less clutter, you are likely to be healthier, happier, and more productive.
Clutter clearing is not usually quite so simple in practice, and that is where the March of Trash clutter clearing challenge comes in. Download and print the official scorecard to add some structure to the challenge and provide a way to track your progress.
The objective of the March of Trash clutter clearing challenge is to make clutter clearing a habit. If you can spend a few minutes on clutter every day for a month, then it’s likely you can continue that effort and eventually live a life unencumbered by clutter. Just downlaed the the March of Trash 2021 clutter clearing challenge scorecard to get started, and check back here throughout the month for regular advice and guidance on clutter.
Stuck at home with stores closed by a state of emergency, you might just forget to do any shopping. Or if the shopping bug keeps bugging you, now is an especially easy time to break that pattern.
During the coronavirus lockdown in effect as I write this, I know of many people who have stopped buying most of the things that they would ordinarily be shopping for. My own purchases in the last month have been limited to food, with a few exceptions in the category of entertainment. Most routine shopping, it seems, has simply been forgotten.
March of Trash asks you to take action on clutter every day for a month.
One of the reasons clearing clutter can feel difficult, and why we may rely on March of Trash to focus our efforts, is that the emphasis is on taking things away. It can feel like a loss even though the physical thing you are losing is something you were never going to use. You get a more meaningful sense of what you accomplish when you can reframe clutter clearing in terms of what you have gained.
March of Trash asks you to take action on clutter every day for a month.
There is a side of decluttering that is so problematic that I hardly ever mention it — but now is the time.
When you share a space with multiple other people — which usually means your family — ambiguous situations can arise around some of the stuff in the space. Whose stuff is it? You can’t always tell by looking at something who owns it or whose responsibility it is. When this happens, the easiest course of action is to leave the stuff generally where it is. Over time, this stuff can build up.
March of Trash asks you to take action on clutter every day for a month.
This post is especially for people who are home alone for a period of time and using the time to clear clutter.
March of Trash asks you to take action on clutter every day for a month.
This month, many people find themselves stuck in an unfamiliar place. They are at home, that is, and not just for a moment but for days at a time without the possibility of rushing out on a series of errands or to some other happier destination. People are almost forced to look around and see what their possessions are, and they may not be happy about what they see.
March of Trash asks you to take action on clutter every day for a month.
It is a valid approach for most decisions to ask what the human impact will be, and decisions around clutter are no exception.
March of Trash asks you to take action on clutter every day for a month.
Some of the things you own just don’t feel good to have, even if you use them for something important. There is something off in their energy.
March of Trash asks you to take action on clutter every day for a month.
Clutter clearing is ultimately not very complicated but it can be a little tricky. One of the surprises in clutter clearing is that you can remove all the clutter from a specific place, such as a shelf or a drawer, only to return the next day or the next week and find more.
Clear away clutter and the to-do list and get your life moving again!
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