Decluttering While Self-Isolating at Home: Seek Balance

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.

Stuck at Home and Facing 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.

Human Impact and Clutter

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.

Consider the Energy

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.

Clutter Clearing Reveals More Clutter

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.

Two Starting Points

March of Trash asks you to take action on clutter every day for a month.

It is well known that clutter makes a bad first impression, but this effect is more important in specific places. In this post I focus on the two points of view that I think are most important when looking at your possessions:

• The things you see when you first open your eyes in the morning
• What you and your visitors see as you enter the front door

Not Photo Quality

March of Trash asks you to take action on clutter every day for a month.

Just looking around a room, you will see a few things that you want to remove, hide, or improve.

Once you’ve finished with those, you might think that the room is as good as you want it to be. But don’t stop there. Take a few photos of the room. In the photos, you will see more things to change — and especially, more clutter that you want to remove.

The Less Obvious Junk

March of Trash asks you to take action on clutter every day for a month.

Some things are legitimately useless. They are worn out, used up, unwanted, broken, or obsolete. If you are looking for clutter, certainly, start there. If you find the 11-year-old conference sweatshirt, shrunken with frayed collar and torn cuffs, and you have a better sweatshirt that you would rather wear, then toss out the sweatshirt, write “sweatshirt” somewhere on the March of Trash scorecard, and you’re done for the day.

Most clutter, though, is not so obvious, and finding it involves getting out of your usual way of looking at things. This year’s March of Trash features six ways to change your perspective on material things so that you can find more clutter. Look for a detailed post on each in the coming weeks.