I’ve always thought of myself as a devout declutterer; I regularly prune away old books and clothes, I throw junk away the moment I get it and I like to keep my desks empty and clean. I even tend to err too much on the side of decluttering by throwing away stuff that I regret later.
But I realized something about myself today. While I may be a physical declutter bug, I’m a hoarder in another realm, the one with ones and zeroes. Just a quick glance at my iTunes library tells me that I have a grand total of 2765 songs, most of which have not been listened to, and which iTunes helpfully tells me will take 9.3 days of non-stop 24-hour listening to finish.
That doesn’t include the other media I have, like podcasts (306 unwatched TED talks), ebooks (that I bought even!) and the articles (Instapaper Pro rocks!) I saved on my iPhone.
And you know what the best part is? The collection keeps growing.
Good God.
Why this incessant need to keep collecting media? There’s no way that I could ever consume all of it. And while the illusion is that digital media is free (yea right, tell that to the $300 external HDD I just bought), it consumes the only nonrefundable resource of all: time.
We’re drawing closer to Chinese New Year, and I’ve been doing some early spring cleaning with some hardcore decluttering this year.
Now, I love me some decluttering, but how to go about doing it? After years of making both leanness and regret, I’ve found a quick and easy way is to divide your stuff into 3 boxes, and then decide how hardcore you want to get.
(These don’t have to be actual physical boxes, but boxes you categorize your stuff into in your mind.)
The 3 Boxes of Decluttering
The Keep Box
This is easy. The stuff that you absolutely know you want to keep goes into the Keep Box. This includes things like the clothes you always wear, the books you love and the stuff you use everyday that keeps you happy and healthy.
The Throw Box
Stuff that is definitely going out goes into the Throw Box. This includes stuff that don’t fit your present life anymore and have no place in the vision of your future. If you haven’t used or seen it in a while, chances are that it’s good to go.
The Maybe Box
The Maybe Box is where stuff you’re not sure whether you want to keep goes into. When you’re sorting out your stuff, don’t stop your momentum with indecision. If you don’t know whether to keep or throw something, put it in the Maybe Box and decide later.