You look around your home and find there are piles of laundry that will take at least a dozen loads of washing to clean.  Or maybe there are mounds of dirty dishes that have been left to molder since you ran out of clean dishes 8 months ago!  Maybe there are piles of both laundry and dishes and you have no idea how you can get started on the countless hours of loads of laundry, folding, and scrubbing dishes that will be required for you to be able to see your counters and floors again.  You’ve been binging on organizing content and feeling envious of clutter-free and calm-feeling spaces.  You want to make a radical change in how you manage your stuff and the amount of clutter in your life but you just don’t know how to start.

The most radical strategy I employ with clients in these situations is going to shock you.  Hang on tight and don’t dismiss me right away!

THROW STUFF AWAY!

What if you threw it all away? Bag it up and put it at the curb.  Don’t wash. Don’t recycle. Don’t donate.  Don’t even look at individual pieces.  Throw it all away!

I’m sure you think I’m nuts, but I have seen this work!  If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll recognize that, so far, you have been unable to deal with this problem adequately.  You’ve found yourself in an extraordinary situation so extraordinary measures are going to be required to get unstuck.

Here’s the justification for trying this radical strategy:

1. You haven’t dealt with the problem so far and the chances that you will do so in the future are slim.

2. Inability to get started often stems from either not knowing the next step or feeling a sense that to do it “right” the project will be huge, and you need to wait to get started.  This method will leap-frog you past the first many steps and land you firmly in the starting fresh zone.

3. Being able to start fresh will enable you to go into creating new, manageable habits without the weight and burden of a pile of unmet self-expectations.

4. You can forgive yourself and move forward.  You don’t deserve to be punished for past mistakes.  If a friend were in the same situation, you would be kind and compassionate, so you should be so towards yourself.

What was your initial reaction when I said to throw everything away?  Was it a sense of relief?  I bet it was, but I also suspect that it was quickly followed by panicked reasoning against it.  Don’t worry, I have challenges to that reasoning:

1. I paid a lot of money for those clothes: Yes, and that will be true whether you wear the clothes or not. You are not using them now. You haven’t used them in months or years. You’re not able to get them washed to use them in the future. Cut your losses and move forward.

2. I won’t have anything to wear: Again, you’re not wearing them now and I’d bet you aren’t living life in a state of nakedness.  Once the mounds are gone, doing laundry will feel like a manageable task and you will continue to wear and enjoy the clothes you are currently wearing, without the added weight of shame.

3. It’s damaging to the environment to put them in the landfill: Maybe, but you can’t save the planet until you save yourself.  Let them go now and make better choices in the future.  Those better choices will include buying and maintaining only the number of items you can reasonably manage taking care of.
   
   
   

The strategy of throwing it all away and starting fresh is an extraordinarily simple way to get past a seemingly insurmountable roadblock in the decluttering process.  I said simple, not easy!  It flies in the face of all the expectations you have for yourself and what you expect others to have for you too.  I give you permission to ignore those expectations and do what is in your best interest.

Clear the deck and start fresh.