MORE vs less: 7 Fears Contribute to Clutter

Day 4 – Decluttered a basket of papers and art/craft supplies in my book-case cubby.

Letting go of stuff becomes so much easier once you let go of the fear of living without it. … In fact, each thing I let go of gave me momentum and confidence to let the next thing go. ~ Courtney Carver, Busting Your Biggest Clutter Fears

Carver mentions 7 fears that contribute to clutter and/or our inability to deal with the clutter. Read the article to get a fuller explanation of each fear. Below is a one sentence synopsis of each fear.

1. I’m afraid I’ll have to buy it again.
2. I’m afraid that if I let go of something sentimental that I will forget the memory.
3. I’m afraid my stuff won’t go to the right place.
4. I’m afraid I won’t have anything left to give my children.
5. I’m afraid getting rid of my stuff will take a lot of work.
6. I’m afraid people will think I am weird or ungrateful because I keep giving things way.
7. I’m afraid that I wasted money on things and giving stuff away is like money down the drain.

I am attached to my belongings for two reasons.

1. I may need that item someday. And many times after I have released an item into the world, I have needed it. Argh! So this perpetuates my belief.
2. An item has sentimental value. So getting rid of it is like getting rid of the person/memory attached to the sentiment.

I need and want to think new thoughts about my belongings. I will start by combatting the two fears expressed above. . . . Maybe by journaling? . . .  Just declutter and live with the uncomfortable feelings? . . . Or???

Day 4 –  31 Minutes of Decluttering = I cleaned out a basket in a bookcase cubby at work. It had (KidMin) paperwork and art /craft supplies. Since I no longer oversee KidMin, I was able to throw away meeting notes, schedules, and potential curriculum ideas. Boom! Right into the trash without even looking at it. The folks who oversee it, do not need my old ideas.

However, getting rid of art/craft supplies was HARD. I see the potential fun. I see the ideas I want to create. I.e. I have a pint jar filled with white ping-pong balls. Why? I have this idea to make the balls look like bloodshot eyeballs. Wouldn’t that look cool for Halloween?

Maybe another fear I have is that if I get rid of this stuff, I will miss out on fun and cool projects. Do you think I tossed or got rid of this potential craft project? Leave a reply in the comments.

Go here for the landing page with all the posts for MORE vs less: 31 Days of Decluttering. #write31days   . . . I am joining 100’s of bloggers who are determined to write every day in October on one topic. To read more about #Write31Days, go here.

Join me in this experiment of MORE vs less.

Your Turn . . . Can you relate to any of the fears?  . . . How will you combat it? . . . Do you think that just by doing the work of decluttering, the fear goes away? I am newish to this and don’t know the answer.

Related Post . . . I’m Not Letting Fear Make Decisions For Me