Today, I would like to invite you to do a little thought experiment.
Imagine you are moving to a new place.
The new home has the ideal size for your personal requirements and it has all the furniture and storage space you need to organise your belongings in a useful and practical way.
However, so far you don’t have any belongings. Your new home is completely empty.
It’s your task now to bring in all – and only! – the things that you truly love, need and use.
On DAY ZERO you are going to buy all the things you need
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- to prepare the first dinner in your new home (groceries, drinks, glasses, dishes, cutlery, pots and pans, appliances, gadgets, table cloth, napkins, potholder, kitchen towels, etc.),
- to enjoy the free evening time with your favourite leisure activity (a book, for example, or a TV, or your arts and crafts supplies, etc.),
- to get a shower and clean teeth before your go to sleep (towels, shampoo, soap, tooth brush, toothpaste, body lotion, etc.),
- to spend a good first night in your new bed (duvet, pillow, linen, bedside lamp, pyjamas, slippers, etc.),
- to get dressed the next morning (for example, a business outfit or whatever you usually wear during a normal day, a pair of shoes, a handbag or briefcase, etc.),
- to enjoy the first breakfast in your new home (coffee machine, mugs, breakfast groceries, etc.)
On DAY ONE you are going to add other things you need, for example
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- to prepare another type of dish (for example, kitchen appliances and gadgets you didn’t need the day before, additional spices, etc.),
- to have some friends over for dinner (additional plates, glasses, cutlery, perhaps a vase, some wine or other drinks, etc.),
- to get your washing done (washing machine, washing powder, basket, etc.),
- to do some sports the next morning (for example, running shoes and clothes),
- to put on fresh clean clothes the following morning (a second set of clothes, perhaps another pair of shoes, etc.).
On DAY TWO you are going to add whatever else you need to add to live your life in the way you want to live it.
And so on – day by day.
However – and that’s important! -, these are the rules:
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- You always check what you have before you buy something new.
- You never buy duplicates (no second pair of running shoes! No extra tubes of toothpaste even if it is on sales today!).
- You only buy what you directly want or need to use (no hot water bottle in summer! No wine glasses if you don’t drink alcohol! Only the one book you wish to start reading today!).
- You also don’t buy more sets of clothes than you need for an exactly defined time period (for example, two weeks). Whenever you buy an additional piece of clothing, you sort out another piece of the same category.
- You also follow your own strict rules with regard to things you get as a gift or inherit but don’t need/like (they have to leave your house again – immediately!).
- And you allow only those papers to enter your home that you need to take care of.
Can you imagine
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- to be surrounded by only things that really and directly serve you, that you truly value by loving/using/needing them?
- To know exactly what you own and where you can find it?
Now come back into reality. ☹
Walk around your home. Then sit down in one of your rooms. Imagine how it would look like if it was a room in your new ideal clutterfree home.
What could you do now, how could you use the next 30 minutes or so to start bringing your current home closer to the ideal version of your home?