The Art of Decluttering
It’s hard to believe that I have been writing for All Things Girl since 2007.
My how time flies.
All Things Girl is an online magazine that hosts an international choir of women’s voices: writers, artists, etc. The talent featured is rich; articles and features thought-provoking.
Much of my writing, in case you’ve either forgotten or just discovered me (hello!), tends toward the topics of relationships+life transitions+culture+travel and living life on my (your) own damn terms.
Decluttering, living+loving small spaces, and the intentional life figure prominently in my work and my recent column is no exception.
Here, from a 2012 issue of All Things Girl, is an excerpt of The Art of Decluttering:
Spring is firmly upon us; a season’s whose appearance I welcome as I thaw out from the frigid San Diego cold. All right, all right, pipe down Chicago and Belarus, I am kidding about the San Diego cold, but I do so love spring. Tiny, tender shoots of chickweed push their little green plant selves up through cracks in the sidewalk while the birds make their appearance with a bit more robust song.
Yes, spring is the season to take risks, shake off the winter layers, and push up boldly through the cracks. And a part of shaking off the layers is my de-cluttering ritual. This ritual is no mere spring-cleaning thing. No dust-a-few-ugly-collectibles sissy sort of cleaning. No, this is serious get-the-detritus-out-of-my-life kind of cleaning that I call the spring purge. I am an unforgiving mistress when it comes to weeding out my humble abode. Anything that sits around too long unused, or even looks at me funny, gets the boot.
As a self-professed intentionalist, kind of like a minimalist with keen aesthetic sensibilities and a love of good quality things, I keep my possessions to a minimum. But for some reason, winter seems to be the season of accumulation for me, as if I were preparing for a long hibernation designed to help me endure the bitter cold southern Californian clime.
Read the rest here.
What do you do to usher in a new season and clear out the crap that threatens to consume your space—both physical and psychic?
How do you pare down?
What’s your ritual?
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