Back to Basics

It’s a New Year and for many that is a time of renewal, reflection and hope, the chance for a fresh start.

For people on their Clutter Clearing Journey, it’s a chance to remind ourselves of the basics that we need to be doing regularly and consistently on our Journey so we can renew our routine in 2024.

It is very likely that a few old habits creeped back in during 2023, as they so often do, so to make sure we are building our Journey and our Clutter Free Life on solid foundations in 2024, let’s remind ourselves of the basics that we need to have in place to help us succeed in 2024.

There are 7 essential Clutter Clearing basics that we need to make sure we have in place.

1. Success Gratitude Journal

Many resist using this, yet it is an essential basic because it helps us focus on the half of the glass that is full and recognise the simple fact that keeping going is a significant success that we need to acknowledge and celebrate. It is also our secret weapon to help us get through a bad day or tough week on our Journey, because we can look back and know that the bad day or tough week will pass because of what we’ve already achieved.

2. Be a Successful Snail

To succeed on your Journey you only need to be a Successful Snail – doing a minimum of 30 minutes of watching and following your Journey videos a minimum of three days a week – with no more than 72 hours between each session, and a maximum of 2 hours a day, 5 days a week.

That’s the minimum we need to do to build routines that turn into automatic habits which are going to enable us to stay Clutter Free Forever, and the maximum we can do before our brain literally switches off. If you are resisting or struggling to accept these minimums and maximums, that suggests there’s resistance or fear that you need to explore with the help of a therapist or counsellor.

3. Watch and follow ALL your Journey videos

You might think you know what a video is about. You might think it doesn’t apply to you and skip it, but here’s the thing. You are building routines so you can create automatic habits, not just in what you do, but in the way you think and make decisions.

Listening to every video is important, because although your conscious brain may be fed up of hearing me say it (as if!), your subconscious mind needs to hear it to build the neural loop for that new automatic habit. If it doesn’t, you are unlikely to stay clutter free Forever once you complete your Journey because it hasn’t turned into an automatic habit.

When we do a Clutter Control Scale Check-in, I don’t consciously say the words because it’s an automatic habit of thinking and doing for me. When I try to consciously think about what I say, I get tongue-tied. That’s what we need to happen with your thinking and doing so that the things you need to do to stay clutter free are subconscious automatic habits.

4. Weekly Planner

Those of us who struggle with clutter are predominately in-time. We are impulsive and resist planning ahead. Our weekly planner is crucial to help us make the time to work on our Journey. 2 hours a day blocked off for your Clutter Clearing Journey – either as one two hour block or two one hour blocks.

Even if you are only aiming to be a Successful Snail doing thirty minutes a day, three days a week, by getting into a routine of setting aside two hours a day, you give yourself CHOICES to do more each day – although never more than two hours a day, five days a week, and never more than one Clutter Clearing day in one calendar day. However, ‘doing’ your weekly planner every week isn’t enough – you need to follow it (!) and make sure you don’t get distracted from following it. If you are doing it correctly, you’ll have rewards on it and contingency time built in so you can be your natrual impulsive in-time self without it sabotaging your Journey.

5. Follow the Term Timetable

You might think you can do more than 6 weeks without a break, but I guarantee you wouldn’t be able to sustain that for very long. The Clutter Clearing Terms are always five weeks long, some are six if you are a Private Journey member. Never more because your brain and body need to rest and recharge for at least one week out of every seven – and mine too! You need that week to allow the seeds you sew during term time to germinate. If you try to keep going, those seeds won’t germinate and you won’t create the habits you need to stay clutter free.

Besides, when you come back after your minimum one week holiday / vacation break, you’ll notice your progress when you realise you’re able to get back into your term time routine quicker and easier than the previous term. You will only notice that progress if you take a break. So never more than six weeks before you take a minimum of 1 week off.

6. Share

Easy to dismiss, but you’re not on this Journey alone, even if you’re on the DIY Journey. You may (let’s be honest – probably!) think sharing doesn’t matter, but I guarantee someone else will see or hear what you share and be relieved that they’re not alone and someone else understands.

You can share by replying to people’s comments below the Journey videos too, so even if they left a comment years ago, if what they’ve shared helps you, makes you feel less alone in your experiences, or simply that you agree with them – let them know! We may all be unique in terms of what’s in our clutter and why we have it, but we’re rarely alone with our experiences and challenges. You’ll only know that if you – and others – share.

7. Appropriate Support

Try to find someone outside the Clutter Clearing ‘bubble’ who can also give you appropriate support on your Journey. Appropriate means they don’t judge you because of your clutter challenge, don’t define you by it, have an open mind, and are supportive of you doing your Journey – even if they don’t understand it.

As you start 2024, focus on making sure you have these seven essential basics in place, and you’ll find you achieve even more success in 2024 than you did in 2023.

You can clear your clutter fast, or you can clear your clutter forever, but you can’t clear your clutter forever, fast.

To find out how Clare can help you clear your clutter Forever, without the need for an expensive home visit, click here now: https://www.clutterclearing.net/clares-help-centre/