Hi friends,
Welcome to this week’s spark.
After the huge accomplishment of decluttering my kids’ bedrooms back in June (easily one of the top 3 achievements of this year), I keep encouraging them to do this regularly. I tell them they need to check their rooms every weekend for things to declutter because we are going out and about and bringing things into our homes, even if we’re becoming more selective. Part of being human means we are constantly consuming. Therefore, we need to make a habit of scrutinizing our home environment to ensure it remains a space we love and look forward to returning to after a hard day’s work.
Last week I felt called to declutter a particular closet in my room that no one cared about except me. It was not visible clutter that was painful to see; it was not a closet I used daily, and it was away from my family and guests’ eyes. However, reading more and more about decluttering and how it is tightly linked to abundance, I answered the call.
There, in a grocery bag, I found a wallet, which I must have put away in haste when I started using a new one. That wallet was my ticket to a strange trip. I time-traveled to the year 2020 for 45 minutes, decluttering that one wallet.
I found receipts of places that ceased to exist. I found a loyalty card from a crafts place I visited with the kids on the last weekend before quarantine started. I found evidence of ill-made financial decisions and evidence of so much abundance and generosity. I found 3 JDs in coins that I added to my daughter’s piggy bank. I remembered the visits I had that summer. I remembered gifts I bought and food I ate with people who are not a part of my life now, except for a DM now and then.
I ended my trip after I took some photos and tore up all those receipts and I released a piece of my past in that decluttering session.
Over the past few years, I have learned that decluttering is much more than just getting rid of things you don’t use or need; it can be a spiritual process of getting unstuck. It allows change to happen, supports life transitions, and makes space for the new by letting go of—and perhaps understandably grieving—the old.
So, I leave you with three letters: ABD—Always Be Decluttering™ (just like the famous sales acronym, ABS: Always Be Selling). It’s astonishing what you might find or find out.
When was the last time you decluttered? What spot in your home is calling you? Would you answer the call?
