Many of my clients have a shelf or more of old notebooks. They range from barely filled to completely filled. These can date back many years and take up a lot of space. Just knowing they're there can subconsciously weigh us down. A lot of us are keeping them for too long, never taking the time to review their contents to see if any of it is worth keeping.

Clutter takes many forms. Oftentimes, each frustrating item is in our face or lurking in a corner for a "good" reason. I recently zapped a piece of my own clutter after walking by it multiple times daily for about a month. It was a decorative white elephant that was given to me as a Christmas in July white elephant gift exchange.

Our "Covid corner" mini-makeover was recently featured in The Washington Post! About a year ago we put up a shelf that I had bought years ago from an antique shop in VA and promptly buried it under the most unsightly collection of Covid paraphernalia.

Working mostly with clients in and around DC, I unearth a lot of election newspapers and paraphernalia. Ooo, it's abundant in this town! I think I once even found a front page from Nixon's impeachment. Wish I had snapped a pic.

We've all heard people say "Just act like you're moving" in order to inspire a more ruthless decluttering episode. Though I like that frame of mind, it's hard to fake unless you have a real move date on the calendar. I've seen people unleash Herculean strength when faced with a move, letting go of unthinkable items with unthinkable speed. All have survived and all have been better for it!

To every thing there is a season.

One could argue that January is the best time of the year to purge because “out with the old, in with the new.” Or, maybe Spring cleaning gets you going.