You have an amazing story. Your possessions help tell your story. But what if the story is too long and needs to be edited – maybe ” junk-hauled.”
It takes physical and emotional energy to sort through personal belongings. There are deep memories accompanying each item. The emotions associated with items may not always be those of nostalgia. When family members are responsible for sorting through a lifetime of possessions when another family member is no longer capable, the physical and emotional demands of the process tend to intensify. This can be a cathartic and bonding experience for families, but many times it’s not.
In the creative process, stories start with an accumulation of raw material – video footage and written chapters to rearrange and rework. If it were not for the art of editing, the audience’s experience would not be as memorable, powerful and meaningful.
The same is true about our life and our stuff.
One of the best things you can do for yourself and ultimately your partner, children, siblings etc. – when it comes to your belongings – is edit your stuff.
Gather
Before you edit, gather your raw material and group together as many like items as possible. Using photographs as an example, gather all devices, disks, hard drives and computers where digital photographs are stored – including links and account information to all cloud locations. Find as many loose physical photos and photo albums as possible and store them in a place where you, yourself, would live (i.e., not the attic or basement). Sort into broad categories such as holidays, events or decades.
Edit
If your life was the subject of a movie, what would you zoom in on? Here are some considerations on what to keep and what to edit:
Keep
- stuff that you love and is currently serving a purpose
- clothes that fit now and you feel good in
- things that are so beautiful that you never tire looking at
- stuff that gives you a sense of pride, now
- photographs that highlight turning points in your life
- photographs that you could smile at, for hours
Cut
- any item that evokes “but I paid good money for it” or the opposite ” it was on sale and such a good deal”
- anything that has not been used in over a year and that could be easily purchased again if needed
- any “I-don’t-know-why-I-bought- this” item
- things that would provide more value to someone else
- blurry photographs
- duplicate photographs
No reader or moviegoer wants to deal with irrelevant details that do not support the essence of the piece. Similarly, nobody wants to deal with the things that are not beautiful, relevant or useful – not even you!
Be the hero of your story, and create the time to deal with your shit. Keep the true treasures, cut the rest.
Reading this made me breathe deeply, as a way to cleanse my internal clutter, ha! Thank you Melanie, for a wonderful analogy that makes such clever yet simple sense.
I am a professional crastinator – I will do some of this tomorrow, and tomorrow never comes. Categories: 5 tons of rock, 1000 + books, 7 boxes of inherited photographs, > 10,000 slides from before there was such a thing as digital, several sets of inherited and moderately expensive porcelain that I will likely never use, you get the picture. There is not enough space anywhere in the house to lay out a selection of materials to be edited. And I am not a hoarder! Moved into a new home within the last year, and pre-move would have been the ideal time to sort and edit, but as in any good film, the crisis is created by opportunity missed! I love the analogy, but I wish it came with a motivator! Or a tag to some magic service so that I could snap my fingers and lo, it’s done!
Thank you for sharing, Francis. It’s true that decluttering pre-move is most advantageous. It’s also true that you can start anytime you decide to. If you are having trouble starting, find someone who can help you kick off the process – a trusted friend, family member or hire a professional organizer.
This helps me get to the cutting.
I’m so glad you found it helpful, Ellie.
Love this post! Really helpful. I am going to print the bullet points and tackle a portion of my office. 🙂
Thank you, Amber. I’m glad you found it helpful! 🙂