In 2020, we moved into a new house half the size of the one we had lived in for more than a decade. That meant we had to sell, purge, or store more than half of everything we owned. If I thought this job was going to be an easy one, I had to think again!
As it turns out, we really did have a lot of stuff. I’m not a minimalist, but I wanted my new house to feel fresh and clean. No junk. I vowed to fill it with only the things I loved.
But you know how things go.
A month goes by. Two months. And before I knew it, I discovered another carload (or two) of stuff we didn’t need.
To keep the clutter at bay, I now use a FREE hack endorsed by home organizers everywhere:
The empty box
Now, it’s easy to say goodbye to all my unwanted junk.
The trick is simple. Basically, I just keep an empty box in my closet and as I come across clothing I no longer wear or knick-knacks I no longer like, I simply toss them in the box. Once the box is full, I load it in my car and drop it off at my local donation center. A new empty box then takes its place.
The empty box works like a charm—and it’s easy.
I use the same trick for decluttering my mind.
Everyday, I do a brain dump—not into an empty box, but onto an empty notebook. My morning empty-page sessions help me organize my thoughts and plan what I want to get done during the day. My night sessions rid my mind of everything that weighs me down and help me release it all so I can sleep well and wake up refreshed.
“Never go to sleep without a request to your subconscious.”—Thomas Edison
Just as my home is always ready to to welcome new friends, my mind is ready to accept and process new ideas.
How many times have you had an “aha” moment, only to discover that you’re too busy to sit down and really do something about it? Instead, you say to yourself, “I’ll deal with this later.” You know what happens—you forget it about it! Your big idea gets lost in the overwhelm that is your life.
What is a brain dump? Basically, a brain dump is everything you’re thinking about right now:
grocery list
to-do list
vacation packing list
a list of people you need to call
menu plan
books you want to read
notes from books you’ve already read
quotes you like
new subjects you want to explore
dreams you’ve had
business ideas
prayers
My morning and evening notes journal is really a collection of all my random thoughts. To keep the journal from feeling too random, however, I save a few pages at the beginning to jot down a rough “table of contents.” That way, I can quickly return to something important I want to remember.
This decluttering hack requires zero effort and is oddly satisfying. The empty box in my closet and the empty journal on my desk are small commitments that give me purpose. I no longer feel overwhelmed. I can focus. I can think.
Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way (the quintessential manual on creativity), advocates for using a journaling method called “morning pages” to do just that—write down everything you’re thinking about for twenty minutes or until you fill up three pages long-hand, and then close the book. These morning pages are never meant to be shared or read by anyone else. Don’t edit. Just write. You can save the journals or throw them away. The point is to get everything out of your head and onto the page.
Now that we’ve said goodbye to everything that’s in our way, it’s time to say hello to the clarity, focus, and direction we really want. And what I really want is to follow my mission, not the madness.
How about you?