Spring Cleaning Your Life: Decluttering Tips for a Fresher You

Today I'd like to share with you some tips on how to Spring Cleaning Your Life. I've personally been on a mission to focus and declutter both my physical spaces and my mental clutter to start the Spring season refreshed. 

Believe it's not easy. How do you know what to keep, how can you let go of sentimental things and how can you best co-habit with someone who also comes with a lot of possessions.

I was not surprised to learn that a study carried out by the cleaning technology manufacturer Kärcher determined that the “cleanest” country on the planet was Japan. And a quote I found on Planet Aid informs me that the Japanese have a different mentality when it comes to cleaning.

“Cleaning is a part of character building. School children and students learn to clean their school themselves. An adult who keeps their surroundings clean is regarded as a person who is at peace with themselves.”

I've often heard the term cleanliness is next to Godliness. Although not religious, I've always tried to adopt that philosophy. It's why grooming is such a big part of my life. It's why I have regular checkups and cleans at the dentist. I don't just photo dump images from my phone to my laptop. I label important images so I can find them easily enough, and I have them all arranged and labelled on my hard drive.

Photo by Remy_Loz on Unsplash

The desk is Key

When it comes to Spring cleaning, I find it incredibly rewarding and I get a fresh hit of dopamine as it counts as goal that I have achieved. As my friend and counsellor Neil Horsewell writes on his blog

[...] there are dopamine neuropathways as a core mechanism that underlies the brain activity associated with the motivation in achieving such goals.

Dopamine communicates with brain cells and encourages them to act in a pleasurable, excitable, euphoric way. Admittedly it feels very strange to get such pleasing rewards from tidying my desk, but at my age you get to appreciate the finer things in life. If I were total up the amount of hours I spent at my desk it would probably scare the crap out of me. But I'm a digital marketer, I cannot do what I do climbing mountains. Therefore it's essential that my desk is clean, it's a place that has minimal fuss, zero chaos and plenty of f**king staples nearby. Honestly, I don't know where they go.

Over the weekend I tasked Tuula to sort out the room where she's dumped a 1000 boxes, and I set about cleaning my desk. I emptied that drawer that was filled miscellaneous junk. It still has random things that I can't house anywhere else. A hip flask for example. A pocket watch that doesn't work. A metallic anvil that reminds me of my working at a steel mill with my Father when I was a little boy.

I've gotten rid of old receipts, broken bull clips, pads and pads of unused note paper etc. Yes there is still crap in my drawer, but at least I can see it. I can access it. I'm not rummaging through it like a robber.

I've thrown out a dozen old leads, adapters. Even old iPads that I've not used in years. And in doing all this, I've created more space mentally. I've rid myself of all the horrible jobs that I'd never get round to doing. Believe if I want to use my old Kindle to read that book I downloaded but never read 10 years ago, I'll just go out and buy the f**king book new.

Photo by Nathan Fertig on Unsplash

Why do we need to fill the space

You know what it's like when you pack a bag for a holiday. You have to cram your suitcase with as many clothes, binoculars, books, underpants, everything. Then when you get to the hotel, you don't even unpack. You just where the same clothes pretty much for 3 days.

Sound familiar? Well I like to think it's the same with your brain, and information. There is so much information out there, but I only have enough bandwidth to take on so much. And I've learnt to live with that. Yes I try and keep up with world affairs. I try to stay in the loop with what is happening in my community too. But no one can expect you to be a savant on all subjects. Just don't fall into the trap of reading headlines, or tweets and then professing to fill in your blanks yourselves based on hearsay and gossip.

When it comes to decluttering the mind, most of it has to do with not being distracted. Turning down the world noise. Focusing on your goals, your loved ones, and your personal health.

Social Media Clean

I have a trick I use on Facebook, when I see it's someone's birthday, and I feel I don't even know them well enough to wish them happy birthday. I delete them. Why am I even friends with someone I can't wish happy birthday to? On Instagram if I see someone posting incendiary remarks, I delete them.

Social media is a place I'd rather enjoy and connect and share ideas. I don't like turning on my phone and getting triggered. Delete those apps you downloaded that you haven't used in the last year.

Delete those podcasts that you haven't listened to in the last year also.

Conclusion Tips:

• Set aside a weekend where you can make clear outs as a couple. Normally getting rid of something is a mutual decision and working in pairs can ensure you're not throwing anything out that could mean more to your partner. Also it's a shared activity that you're doing together.

• Work on the key areas where you spent the most time. The night stand. The Desk. The kitchen drawers.

• Label things efficiently and in plain view.

• Don't recycle books. Take them to the charity shop, they deserve a second chance.

• Try and exercise every day. Even if it's doing squats whilst brushing your teeth. That dopamine hit will get addictive and you'll look for it in any way you can. I don't meditate but I run, and that helps me declutter my mind and I get that dopamine hit too.

• Buy a massive sized hard drive, upload your photos and go through it with a fine tooth comb. Manicure it like you do your beard.

Photo by Daniel Chen on Unsplash