2025: the year I take control of all this … “stuff”

Really.

The history

Over a decade ago, around the time minimalism was taking off, I was quite keen on the idea of it. At one point, I came close to really paring down what I owned to what was necessary and helpful for the life I wanted to live.

Then life imploded!

I was relatively housebound for many years through a combination of fear and anxiety. During that time, it was easy for all kinds of objects — both useful and not so much — to sneak in.

Semi-consciously, I was trying to make sure that I had this inner (indoor, safe) world that I could rely on. My private little world that “held” what I needed (or might need).

Reference books, DVDs, music, clothing, games, crockery, tools and DIY products.

I even started storing extra food and other household items after we had two major floods in our town that were just two years apart. Fortunately, our home never actually flooded, but I was going to be ready if the worst happened!

Then came a further influx of stuff as my grandparents prepared to move into a nursing home. There were attachments involved. These ‘things’ belonged to people I loved, and many were items I’d grown up with.

Not long after that, I moved a few hours away. I hadn’t become a hoarder by any means, but I was shocked by the size of the truck I filled. And I mean filled. To the brim.

Over the following seven years at my new home, I had many culling sessions. But it was slow going. Each year I made a bit more headway but never really got on top of it all. I never reached that ‘set point’ that feels like a good amount.

I’ll never forget the day I pulled a cardboard box from under my bed and found a two inch thick layer of dust covering the top of it. The contents were a complete surprise to me. I hadn’t missed a thing in that box, yet I didn’t get rid of it! 😭

The problem

I know many people are in a similar position now. I also know that it’s a problem for the fortunate. ‘Hi, I’ve got too many wonderful things.’ 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

Many people have stuffed their homes and even their garages, and at some point it starts to feel unmanageable and overwhelming.

It may be a problem of the fortunate, but a problem it is.

I’ve just had another move, and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit it broke me several times.

First, because I didn’t really want to move. I was attached to my home, and I like to be stable and know what’s happening and what’s coming. And with the move, I didn’t know exactly when it would happen or where I’d be moving to. Second, it was a big job packing so much and moving it.

But that’s all early 2025 history now.🥂

August, 2025

I am in my new home, which is essentially a small flat near family.

When I say small, it turned out to be smaller than my last home and, despite my taking measurements prior to the move, it also turned out to be smaller than I had anticipated.

On moving day, when my lounge room was literally packed from floor to ceiling with a walkway of just enough room to walk from the front door into the next room, the kitchen, I was surprised. But I coped, as people like to say these days.

I needed to cull more things, I decided.

It seemed obvious: I needed to adapt to the space rather than trying to make the space accommodate my (still) mountains of stuff.

So over the last month, that’s what I’ve been doing.

I could only reach the front layers of stuff in the lounge initially, so I began there and gradually worked my way inwards.

I put important things away while placing others into a set of labelled boxes.

Op shop

Friends and Family

Sell

Rubbish, and

Question mark… “?”

The Question mark box was for those things that I felt like I could, or should, let go of…yet couldn’t - yet. Whether because of confusion, attachment or anxiety, it seemed quite okay to put them aside to revisit later. It stopped me from getting too held up by them.

My lounge room is still a work in progress, to be honest.

The lounge… 😳 This is ‘getting there’. I don’t want to deal with anything like this again.

Part of the reason the lounge remains like this is that several large pieces of furniture that shouldn’t be in there, are. I need to book a couple of powerful men to come and move them, and that will happen soon.

But the lounge has also been useful as a place to help me organise and sort. I’ve still got a few boxes filled with blankets, for example. I definitely don’t need all of them, but I haven’t been able to make final decisions yet.

Those decisions are coming, though. They are coming! 💪

Meanwhile, I’ve done four trips to the op shop to deposit car loads of good, but un-needed items: clothing, household and much more.

I’ve been to the dump with carloads twice, and I try to celebrate each step I make towards this major, important project. It’s been a big job, and every bit counts.

This year I am serious and determined to whittle it down. Not to become minimalist. But to focus in on my actual needs and my desires for the future.

I want to crowd out what doesn’t serve me and focus in on what does.

Relationships, creativity (my writing 🥰), fun, and growth.

What I don’t need is the ongoing stress of trying to wrangle so much unneeded stuff! There’s no room, no money, and no time to spend trying to keep unimportant things ‘good’.

Is anyone else on a similar journey at the moment?

If so, drop a comment below, or find me on Instagram, because I need support and inspiration, and I want to give it back as well!

Let me know how it’s going for you and what your personal goals are in your decluttering process.

Have you used the boxes system I described above? How did it go?

As I build up to serious writing again, I plan to do some Instagram posts sharing decluttering and simplifying tips. All things that I’ve learned over my years of “almost achieving it” and now, my determination to get there. 😉💪

Thanks for reading, lovelies.

Morgan x 💝

My kitchen hutch 💖 #home