As I type the title for this week’s Simplified Home post I just realized something, I only have 20 weeks left in my 52-week challenge!

This week I decided to work on the side wall of our tiny walk in closet. Now, I know last week I said I was going to conquer a different pile, but in that pile was a box packed by my late mother that made me feel emotionally paralyzed.

Here is why rather than push through those emotions I decided to just move on to another area.

I have been reading an article on decluttering pretty much every morning for months, and sharing it with my snail pacing clutter removers facebook group who are also working hard reducing clutter in their homes.

When Dealing With Clutter Deal With The Simple First

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Several articles on simplifying that I have read have said start with the easy clutter piles first and the feeling of accomplishment will give you the courage to attack the difficult clutter.

That is what I am hoping will happen in my closet decluttering. There are actually 2 boxes in this closet that I know of, there might be more, that are full of items given to me by people no longer walking this earth. People I loved dearly, and those boxes strongly evoke the emotion of grief within me.

Grief is largely the emotion that caused our home to get this cluttered to begin with. I lost 4 loved ones in 5 years {or it could have been 6 years…I was in such a fog by the last death I now can’t get my dates straight without looking up obituaries}. That is a lot of grief for one person to deal with.

One thing I have learned from losing all those loved ones is that when a loved one dies you will deal with waves of grief over not getting to share your time with them for the rest of your life. Sure, the depth of those waves decreases, the waves lessen–no longer feeling like they could knock you over like when the death was fresh…but they never go completely away.

I have also learned you can grieve in a healthy manner or an unhealthy one, and allowing grief to bury you in possessions and steal the joy that comes from having an organized home isn’t healthy.

In my deepest fog I just couldn’t seem to deal with the simplest of piles, “is this important to keep?” “maybe,” “oh, I don’t know…” “I am too tired for this,” and with those thoughts I just walked away from the stuff and let it pile higher and higher.

When the fog lifted I seriously said,  “What the crap has happened to our home?!” {sorry, I know I don’t normally use strong language on my blog but this time I think what I said needs to be read the way I said it} and then the realization of what I had done hit me like a tonne of bricks: “I did it, I made our home a mess.” And now I am fixing it one week at a time, one area at a time.

I am getting healthy and putting grief in its proper place now that time has passed. I know to get fully healthy I will have to eventually deal with those memory filled boxes, but for now I am gaining the courage by dealing with the simple first.

If you too are struggling with possession issues such as clutter due to grief, I want you to know I am right there with you.  Let’s agree to start with the simple and let it give us the courage to deal with the hard.

 And the end result of this week’s project…

Most of the stuff hanging got put in the donation pile with the exception of 2 maxi dresses that you can see in the corner of the picture.

This entire box came out of that small area! I can’t believe I have so many hangers that I am actually giving them away.

What area of your home did you declutter this week?

Don’t forget to join the Snail Pace Clutter Removers  Facebook group, where you can share your progress, and receive encouragement.

A few great posts to help you with your clutter roadblocks…

• How To Start Decluttering When You Feel Overwhelmed By It
• How To Declutter When You Just Don’t Feel Like It
• 4 Essential Items For Efficient Decluttering

View the plan and grab your free 52-week planning sheet here

Update: I finished this challenge – below are the links to all my weekly updates showing my progress.

1. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week One
2. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Two
3. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Three
4. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Four
5. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Five
6. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Six
7. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Seven
8. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Eight
9. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Nine
10. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Ten
11. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Eleven
12. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Twelve
13. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Thirteen
14. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Fourteen
15. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Fifteen
16. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Sixteen
17. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Seventeen
18. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Eighteen
19. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Nineteen
20. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Twenty
21. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Twenty-One
22. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Twenty-Two
23. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Twenty-Three
24. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Twenty-Four
25. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Twenty-Five
26. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Twenty-Six
27. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Twenty-Seven
28. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Twenty-Eight
29. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Twenty-Nine
30. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Thirty
31. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Thirty-One
32. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Thirty-Two (you are here)
33. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Thirty-Three
34. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Thirty-Four
35. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Thirty-Five
36. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Thirty-Six
37. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Thirty-Seven
38. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Thirty-Eight
39. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Thirty-Nine
40. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Forty
41. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Forty-One
42. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Forty-Two
43. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Forty-Three
44. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Forty-Four
45. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Forty-Five
46. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Forty-Six
47. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Forty-Seven
48. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Forty-Eight
49. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Forty-Nine
50. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Fifty
51. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Fifty-One
52. 52 Weeks To A Simplified Home: Week Fifty-Two

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