Today I’m talking about guilt. So many of us have feelings of guilt around the clutter we have in our home. It might be:

• guilt about gifts given to you which you do not love
• guilt about the money spent on an item you have never used
• guilt about the thought of getting rid of items given to you and what the giver might think
• guilt about friends and family and their tidy homes
• guilt about wasting precious natural resources
• guilt about where a decluttered item can go

To move forward with decluttering, and to maintain a decluttered home, we need to move beyond these feelings of guilt and change our mindset. Your mindset is already changing – and this is a reminder to accept that:

• the gift did its job when it was given
• the money is already spent – whatever happens to that item now doesn’t change that fact (but it might influence future buying decisions)
• others need not know the final destination of their gifts
• what you see of others’ homes is probably only the best bits – social media can be really damaging in this way
• the item has already been made and resources used – you can use this as a learning opportunity and to help shift your mindset with regards to future purchasing
• there are many options for the ‘second life’ of your decluttered items – think about what your exit strategy is

G x