Where can you reduce clutter in your life

I’ve been thinking a lot about reducing clutter in life, and actually doing it too… there are so many types of clutter. There is the oh-so-easy-to-notice physical clutter, which many people say is a reflection of mental or emotional clutter. There can be financial clutter. Social clutter. Where can I reduce?

According to Taber’s online dictionary, reduction is from the Latin word reductio, meaning leading back. And of all the definitions for reduction, one that I really like is “restoration to a normal position.” I like to think of reducing clutter as a kind of restoration in life. It’s paring down the extra stuff- physical, mental, financial- so that I can get back to the things that are really important.

One example: writing.

When it’s time to write, I can use any number of things to put off the actual sitting down and writing part. It’s harder for me to write when I see a sink of dirty dishes, or a pile of clothes that needs to get folded. But if I don’t have a lot of visual clutter, it’s easy for me to get down to business and spend the time writing instead.

I used to think that this was procrastination. Maybe it was, to a certain extent. But personally, I really struggle to do something important to me (like write) when the more urgent things (like cleaning) are so blatantly obvious, right in front of me.

So I’ve been paring down. I downsized about 8 years ago, which was somewhat painful emotionally, but really helped me to look at things along with my kids and get rid of stuff. Recently I moved again, and although I have a little more space now, I keep getting rid of things because I’m keeping what I actually use and getting rid of the rest.

This has helped me immensely. In Marie Kondo’s book, the life-changing magic of tidying up, she talks about keeping only what brings us joy. I’m not quite there yet. But I’ve been keeping what brings me joy and what’s genuinely useful at the moment, which seems to be working.

This has all been leading me back to writing. When I look around and see a clean countertop and an empty sink, I find it a lot easier to sit and write.

I like to think that this year is my reduction year. A reset. A return to the important. The urgent is always going to be there. When I reduce the clutter in my life, not just the physical but the emotional and financial as well, I can keep the truly important as my focus.