Un-Clutter Your Life

Psa 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

The definition of “clutter” is: “A crowded or confused mass or collection” or “Interfering echoes visible on a radar screen caused by reflection from objects other than the target” – Webster Dictionary.

The image that comes to mind when someone mentions “clutter” closely reflects Webster's first definition. Clutter has repercussions – It impacts on your life. It interferes and disturbs.

Msg: Pro 20:9 For who among us can be trusted to be always diligent and honest? 10 Switching price tags and padding the expense account are two things GOD hates.

Clutter irritates and hurts, both physical and mental. It prevents progress, and detracts from efficiency and effectiveness. Un-cluttering is not about cleaning. It is about getting focus into your life. The benefits of getting rid of it are physical, financial and emotional:

Sometimes the place for an item is in the rubbish bin or perhaps in a recycling bin! One man's treasure is another man's trash… It's only clutter if it interferes, and it only interferes if it's not where it's supposed to be.

Mat 6:24 No one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Clutter is only clutter if it’s mixed with unrelated things.

If you have stack of unrelated papers and projects mixed together on your desk, it is clutter. If your pantry or kitchen cupboards are so untidy that you can never find what you are looking for, it’s clutter.

Clutter is something you don’t need or want.

Remember the 80/20 rule. Eighty percent of value comes from 20 percent of any group. You wear 20% of your clothes 80% of the time? 80% of the papers you file, you will never look at again.

Clutter is all the unfinished “stuff” or business and open-ended issues.

We get bored, distracted and downright lazy.

Clutter is everything you haven’t yet made a decision about.

Clutter results because you've postponed making decisions.

Where or what is your clutter? It may be the notes you make to remind you of things to do. It may be worries you have about unresolved issues or the notes on your fridge or the unfinished business of each day. Does your desk look like a bomb hit it?

These strategies are for physical or mental clutter.

Decide what is important

You can’t decide what to get rid of if you don't know what is important to you in the first place. For instance, deciding to only keep clothes that you wear is an indication of what’s important.

Group related items together
Only when you see things together can you begin to prioritize.

Get rid of what you don't need or want.

Divide items into three categories:

- Keep
- Not sure
- Throw out.

Get rid of all the items in “Throw out”. Sift through the “Not sure” items and divide them up into the three piles again if you are not sure what to keep and what to throw out. Eventually you will get to “Keep” only items.

Place items into compartments
This is the “home” for items. It is “the most logical place” to store an item.

Even unfinished projects, task and activities need to have a “home”. Do not be tempted to keep all the unfinished items, projects and documents together in one place, with the view that it would be a “reminder” to complete it. File important documents in its file and keep the file in the correct place and come back to it when you are ready to complete the task. Only keep paperwork that may be of value to you later. Don’t be tempted to keep something “just in case”.

Get you work area clear of clutter and do not be tempted to start your old habit again. File important documents as they arrive on your desk and deal with them at an appropriate (diarised) time.

Once you are truly organized, you can work more efficiently and you can concentrate on attaining your goals. Remember, to be organized also means that you have to organize and manage your time.

Decide to deal with all outstanding issues you may have in your life. Maybe you parted on bad terms with a friend or family member or you have an outstanding fine, which has been nagging you for a long time. Perhaps you need to review your relationships, your job or your life in general. Un-cluttering your life starts by looking inside your heart and making decisions about what’s important to you. Hold on to what is important to you and let go of all the emotional and physical clutter in your life.

Your outer world is a reflection of your inner world…