How many good reasons are there to keep clutter?

None. Clutter is stuff you don’t use or love and if you don’t use or love it it shouldn’t be in your home. Those who read my blog or hire my services already know that the goal of decluttering and organizing is to keep only the items that you "know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." William Morris said that and he was smart. Smart, I'm telling you. Really smart. So, once you get rid of the items that don't fit the William Morris model, you will have no clutter. None. Zero. You might have a disorganized pile of paperwork needed to be filed away, but that isn’t clutter. That’s just a task to be scheduled.

How many super bad reasons are there to keep clutter? Probably to infinity and beyond but here are the top four:

They were wedding gifts! and 
They were expensive! and you 
Might need them later! and your 
Grandmother gave it to you and now she’s dead.

Look, I’m sorry about your grandmother but grandmas die. And so will you. And when you die you will leave a bunch of stuff for others to wade through, sort out, box up, and get rid of. And whoever’s sweeping up after your whirlwind existence on this earth will be oh so grateful if you lighten their load by getting rid of things that have no meaning or use to you. There’s a Swedish word for this: dostadning, which is a hybrid of the words death and cleaning. More on this in another post. 

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If the reason you’re hanging on to unused/unloved gifts is one of the four above, practice saying these words out loud: SO WHAT?

​Say it again, louder: SO WHAT? 

So what if they were wedding gifts? What? No one can ever get rid of things that were wedding gifts, just because they were wedding gifts? As if this would be bad luck for your marriage? Really?  If you’re not using/loving something, it’s clutter. Pass it on to someone who will use/love it.  

So what if they were expensive? If it’s about money, then just sell the damn things online or take them to a consignment shop. If it’s something expensive that someone gave to you, then It wasn’t your money anyway. Just saying.

So what if you might need them later? You haven’t used those 12 china egg cups yet, why on earth would you need them next year? There are people in this world who would actually use them now. So pass them on. 
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So what if grandma gave you those and now she’s dead? Again, sorry about your loss but if you don’t love that painting of a lonely sheep in the field on a dark rainy night, and if you know none of your kids love it, then why hold on to it? Grandma would love for the sheep to go to someone who loves it as she did. 

If you're serious about decluttering, it starts item by item. Keep what you use or love, pass the rest on to the universe and people who need/love it. I know that's a bit woo woo but it's how life works. It just is.