Time flies.

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”  Annie Dillard

Decide how you want to spend those days.
Shopping?
Scurrying to catch up?
Bent over your phone?
Obsessing over the past?
Overwhelmed by your stuff?
Searching for things you own but can't find?
Hoping things will change, but never changing your behaviors?

This is your one, true, and amazing life.
Live your life so it reflects what's important to you.
Spend your time engaged in activities that are meaningful to you.
(You get to define what those things are)
Spend time with the people you love and cherish.

The days are long, but the years are short...

Bugs you lots

Where is that one space in your house that really bugs you?
Which pile makes you the most annoyed?
What area takes the most effort to keep under control and clutter free?

Take a moment and just look at what's piled up there.
Do the things not have homes?
Are they items you're doing to get right back to (but haven't)?
Did they get left there on the way to somewhere else?
Are they decisions you've been unwilling to make?

Once you have an idea of the why of the clutter,
it will be easier to take care of what's there in an appropriate way.
Figure out if the items are worth keeping and if so, 

find them a home.
If they are things that never get put away, perhaps they need a new home closer to where they are used or needed.

Make a decision about the item.
Move forward.  

Live with the results.

Trade annoyance for action.

A pile for a clean surface.

Small changes.
Big results.

Not why? What.

Forget about asking why things are disorganized or cluttered.
The why answers usually lead backwards 

(and you're not going that way),
or they involve  opportunities to beat yourself up about your past behaviors.
(Put down that stick)

Instead ask what?
What are the results I'm looking to achieve?
What can I do differently so the mail doesn't pile up?
The clothes get put away?
The dishes end up in the dishwasher?

What questions give you a chance to think in terms of actions and results.
You are still taking responsibility for making changes and
initiating different behaviors,
but you are doing it from a place of looking ahead and moving forward.

As they say, "There is a reason windshields are larger than rear view mirrors."

What we do

It is what we do,
not what we own,
that makes life memorable.

Spending time with friends.
Savoring time for ourselves.
Making relationships a priority.
Taking time out to play.
Being absorbed in a good book.
Appreciating a work of art, or a piece of music.

Choose to do things that warm your heart.
Spend time with the people who matter to you.
Trying owning less and see if your life is richer.........

What's the benefit?

Often what keeps us stuck or procrastinating is
our focus is on how hard something is going to be,
or why we don't want to do it.  (Whine, whine)

Instead, try focusing on the benefits of doing the work.

What opportunities might be created?
Remember why you wanted to take on the project.
Remind yourself of the changes your actions will produce.

Procrastination and stalling take energy.
Why not put that effort into achieving the goal?

Weigh the long term benefits against the short time needed to do the actual work.

If you switch your focus from the mechanics of the doingness part,
to the positive outcome and changes having done the work will create; you can change how you feel.

Place your attention where you want your results to be.

Inviting a shift in perspective makes it easier to get things done.

What are the benefits of a less cluttered life?

Make that your focus.

What's the use?

Everything has a use and a purpose.

Hobby supplies are meant to create things.
Clothes are meant to cover our bodies.
Dishes are for dining.
Pots and pans for cooking.
Sports equipment gets you out and moving.
Books are meant to be read.
(I think you know where this is going.......)

If you're not knitting a sweater,
wearing the pants,
drinking from the mug,
baking a souffle,
using your tennis racket,
reading or rereading that novel:
Let it go.
Let the stuff serve its purpose.

Quit wasting the stuff's potential and usefulness
while you wait around to find the time,
lose the ten pounds, or
keep it for Justin Case.

Clearing out your excess, unused, under valued and unloved stuff will create more room for you to find and 

live your purpose. 

And I'm willing to bet your purpose has more to do with people and relationships than it does to things.

Know what you need.

You can't know what you need if you don't know what you have.

Much shopping, impulsive and otherwise, comes from thinking you need _________.

So you toss __________ into your cart,
you get home and discover you already have 

two boxes of __________ on the shelf.
Or three pair of ____________ hanging in the closet.
Or four bags of _____________ in the freezer.

Having items organized, grouped like with like,
and stored where you use them creates a visual inventory.
When you can see and are aware of what you already have,
and you've decided how many is enough, you'll know if you really 'need' more of something and 

your shopping habits will change.

Use lists (a great use of your smart phone) so you can note when you need to make a purchase.
If you write it down you don't have to try to remember how many you have left or if you emptied the container.

(Oh, and just because it's on sale, doesn't mean you need it)

Know your limits.
Shop accordingly.