Art & Antiques by Dr. Lori
by Dr. Lori Verderame
Get ready for some tough love. When it comes to decluttering, you have to forget the sentiment and get serious. Don’t procrastinate and be relentless as you part with unnecessary stuff. Once you start the process, you’ll be glad that you took the bull by the horns.
How do you start? Start with the easiest decisions that decluttering demands. What’s easy is to decide what to keep. The hard decisions come when you are deciding what to give up.
The KEEP pile
Decluttering starts with what items to keep even though most people want to see a box full of stuff headed for the curb. First, make a KEEP pile. Everyone knows what to keep. Make a KEEP pile for each room in your home. The KEEP pile should include any item that couldn’t possibly leave the family for whatever good reason. You should keep an heirloom if it is part of family history or if you are not willing to part with it for some good reason. The KEEP pile may have things in it that someone has always coveted like grandma’s wedding ring, a favorite piece of furniture, or jewelry box. Items like Grandpa’s coffee mug, prized hunting rifle, or autographed football may warrant a place in the KEEP pile. The KEEP pile is the easiest thing to deal with when decluttering. Each room should have a KEEP pile. The trick to the KEEP pile is you must limit yourself. That’s right, for every item you keep, you must rid yourself of two items.
You may not have expected such rigidity or tough love in this process, but it’s necessary. Decluttering means parting with items and it doesn’t mean reorganizing stuff so you can keep all of it.
Other tips for decluttering include:
Choose one room to house the emotional stuff. As you uncover these items in the process, place them in that room. When you have time and emotional support, deal with the items in that room. Give them careful consideration but realize that some of these items will have to go.
If you can’t deal with certain emotional items, put them aside and deal with them later. Another option is to take photos of the emotional items. The photograph will help you remember the object when you must rid yourself of the actual item.
Do not tackle the attic or the basement first. Start small in a guest bedroom or closet.
Make a staging area such as a screen porch or garage for large scale items like sofas, dressers, tables and chairs that will be part of the decluttering process.
Don’t invite people to help you declutter your home who are not going to be helpful. Don’t seek the aid of those who are just interested in joining you on a trip down memory lane. The objective is to declutter, not to reminisce. Don’t engage helpers who will slow down the process.
Don’t expect to downsize a houseful of stuff in one weekend. It took a lifetime to accumulate all this stuff, it will take time to dispose of and decide what to do with all of the stuff.
Ph.D. antiques appraiser, author, and award-winning media personality, Dr. Lori presents antique appraisal events nationwide, appears on Netflix and History channel, and hosts videos on her popular vintage shopping and treasure hunting YouTube.com/DrLoriV channel with 65 million views. Visit www.DrLoriV.com or call (888) 431-1010.