Shop at your house!

          Let’s Shop at your house! What if we thought of downsizing, decluttering, and organizing one’s home differently?  For those of you familiar with Marie Kondo’s method of preparing for, and then releasing possessions onward to a blessed life through a series of categorizing, praising, dispositioning, folding clothes a specific way, etc., all in the name of minimalizing your possessions down to what ‘sparks joy’ within you, I’d like you to consider a more uplifting experience: Shopping within your own domain!  The results will be strikingly similar. But, it’s a much more fulfilling happiness. It means getting cool stuff – for free!

      On one hand, there are parts of the Konmari method  that make A LOT of sense. For example: It is more efficient to address all spaces containing similar items, group them together by category, evaluate what you have, want, need, desire, and re-disposition the rest. For example: It is pretty common to have size and season changes of clothes or shoes stored in multiple places. They could not only be in our closet. They could be in the garage, hall closet, off-site, the kids’ or guest room closets, or even in our cars. Clearing and reorganizing the main bedroom closet alone will not address these additional spaces. The other storage spots need to be cleared and organized as well. For one thing, if you don’t address what’s in the storage spots, how are you going to make space for what you clear from your main closet? Or, how will one know how many, or outdated, worn-out, or well, what we now consider to be hideous, similar items we have been putting off tossing?  

      Beyond categorizing: Why keep a picture of your ex, if every time you look at it you cringe, lament not still being with them, or, wonder why you were ever with him/her, or (once again) wish they’d fall off the face of the earth?  Or, how about the t-shirt with the stretched neckline you’ve kept for years? Have you actually pulled it out and worn it to wash the car, clean the garbage bins, or paint the bathroom? Nope. You have six other ones in similar condition you prefer. And, by the way, why do you have those grungy lamps still on the shelf in the garage? How about the four ‘just-in-case’ partially used make-up foundations or mascaras? You get the picture. 

         Some of these things can go away. They are not making you happy.
What’s happened:  Aside from the shopping some of us do to feel better, most of our retail purchases are made with an event or specific need in mind. Where one runs into trouble is when we have eight pairs of identical slacks, twelve pairs of nearly identical jeans, fifteen pairs of black heels (that only during a rare, but same type of an event we might wear a pair of them), not to mention the twenty-five bud vases, or ten of the same sized slot screwdrivers…Yet, it’s not just about the redundancies, it’s also about the space the over-abundance is taking up.
 
      Instead of dreading the task of bidding farewell to your possessions, let’s shop instead! Think of it as a treasure hunt. With this change of mind-set, gathering versus loss and mourning, your organizing tasks will lead you to experience what makes you the most happy – shopping for the perfect set of spatulas or canisters, red pumps, tank top, well-fitting jeans, combs that actually produce the results you’re looking for…AND, space for what’s best for you in this time-frame! The really cool part; you already own it! Your ‘new’ treasures are FREE! FREE! FREE! You don’t have to go anywhere, including on-line, to find them. Trust me, you’re going to be surprised by what you’ll find and fall back in love with.

      Of course, there’s the part where you may discover you wouldn’t re-purchase any of those toss pillows, pictures of owls, handsaws or pie plates and it really is time to recycle them all. What else will you get from shopping (and recycling what you wouldn’t repurchase) at home? Less clutter. Less indecision of what to wear. Less anxiety when you walk through the door (front, closet, pantry, garage…). Instead, you get more: Time. Space. Stuff you really want. And, unquestionably, happiness!  Did I mention you get to go shopping, for FREE? 

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