A Fresh Start, Without the All-or-Nothing Pressure
The New Year has a funny way of whispering (or shouting): You could live a little lighter.
Not lighter as in empty.
Lighter as in freer. More intentional. Less weighed down by things that quietly drain your energy.
For Jim and me, this fresh-start energy is layered on top of a recent move. We’re still learning our new house—how we actually live in it, where things naturally want to land, and which systems make sense here.
And that, by the way, is completely normal. You often have to live in a space before you know how to organize it. Rushing to “get it right” on day one usually just means redoing it later.
Paring down and decluttering isn’t about deprivation. It’s not about becoming a minimalist monk or living out of a single drawer. It’s about choosing what earns its place in your life—right now, in this season.
Because here’s the truth I keep bumping into:
If everything is important, then nothing is important.
What follows are a few very real, very human examples from my own life—different techniques, different scales, zero perfection required.
The 10-Minute Declutter: Letting Go of the Bissell CrossWave
I bought a Bissell CrossWave years ago, convinced it would be a time-saving miracle. Mop and vacuum? Sign me up.
Reality check:
It lived a nomadic life—hauled from closet to closet, room to room—never quite belonging anywhere. Every time I moved it, I felt a tiny flicker of irritation. That should’ve been my clue.
When I finally paused to ask, “Is this actually helping me?” the answer was no. It was costing more in peace of mind than it was saving in time.
So I gave it away.
Ten minutes. A local “buy nothing” group. No selling, no haggling, no hassle.
Yes, it had only been used three times since 2019. Yes, there was a sunk cost. And no, I didn’t need to punish myself for that. Someone else was thrilled to have it—and just like that, a delayed decision stopped draining my life energy.
Technique takeaway:
Release the guilt. Acknowledge the sunk cost. Choose peace.
Using Vertical Space: A Smarter Home Office Setup
Decluttering isn’t always about removing things. Sometimes it’s about giving things a proper home.
As I set up a new home office, my husband installed simple hooks on the wall—unused vertical space doing nothing but waiting to be useful.
I work with multiple projects at once, each with its own tote bag. Instead of stacking, shuffling, or hunting, we added three hooks. Each project now has a visible, accessible place.
Nothing fancy. No bins with labels that take longer to make than to use.
Technique takeaway:
Before letting go, ask: Is this stored in a way that respects how I actually live and work?
Letting Go of Old Professional Materials (Without Erasing Your Past)
This one was harder.
I had boxes—plural—of leadership, management, and HR process books and files from a previous career. Emotionally, they represented decades of work, growth, and identity. Logically, they were just… sitting there.
For years, they lived in what I call decluttering purgatory: packed away, moved from place to place, never used, but never released. A full-blown Kabuki dance of boxes blocking access to what I actually needed now.
Eventually, space won.
Not emotional space, but physical space for current priorities.
I kept three books. About two inches of files. The rest was donated or discarded.
And guess what? My experience didn’t disappear. My competence didn’t vanish. My memories stayed put.
Technique takeaway:
Honor your past—then curate it. Keep a small, meaningful subset and let the rest go.
Bottom Line:
Decluttering doesn’t require a weekend purge or ruthless rules. It asks for honesty, curiosity, and a willingness to stop doing the same old dance with the same old stuff—especially when a move or a life change has already shaken things up.
The New Year isn’t about becoming a different person.
It’s about making space for who you already are—and who you’re becoming.
So start small.
Start imperfectly.
Start where the energy leak is loudest.
Because living lighter doesn’t mean living without joy.
It means letting joy breathe.
