A lot of budding declutterers start off with the idea that - since they are taking things away from their homes – they might as well make some money out of selling things they no longer want to keep. To some degree, I’m sure, the idea of ‘making money from stuff that doesn’t serve any more’ is adding a level of incentive to the venture. But then again, if the only rationale behind decluttering is the need to make money (maybe they are down on their luck or had unexpected costs cropping up out of nowhere) I wouldn’t even describe this as decluttering, but rather flogging off belongings, be they considered clutter or not.

There is nothing wrong with selling some of your belongings, of course, but in terms of decluttering that should be the last concern, and one that follows after all the other steps that lead to a successful removal of certain items from the home by means of properly letting go, not just selecting to sell off things based on their perceived financial value.

I come across one particular issue regularly: piles of paperwork on a desk containing unopened mail, flyers, advertisements, newsletters, brochures, accompanying documentation that has been separated from the main correspondence… in short: a messy pile of papers that will take an eternity to sift through and properly deal with.

Frankly, I have never understood why anyone would keep all these documents in a single pile, making it very hard to deal with either kind at any given time.

Kitchens tend to be a treasure trove of not just small spaces (the forgotten little spots where we put things we are unlikely to use anytime soon – and promptly forget about), but also of items that time forgot.

Kitchens do not just contain the paraphernalia of food preparation, which pose their own set of challenges in term of storage and usefulness. They also, most importantly, contain food items, be it in the kitchen itself or an adjacent small room or cupboard that we’ll just have to call “the pantry” for the sake of this article. The pantry is – for lack of a better word – a black hole of forgetfulness!

Setting goals every day may sound like a complete waste of time when you are running a business on your own, and know full well what needs to be done, right?

Wrong: knowing and being aware are two different things. Usually, sole traders do everything related to running a business, maybe outsourcing accounts, but nothing much else. This means that besides the actual business work, we put on half a dozen different hats every single day. Don’t tell me you could do this without an agenda of sorts, I will prove you a liar for sure.

Have you ever thought of decluttering as something that enhances your life? Maybe you should consider looking at decluttering in terms of something that you experience and that enhances your life!

Many of us dread the idea of taking care of the things that clutter our lives, be they physical objects, old habits, or simply ideas we have stuck with for a long time. It feels like a chore because it confronts us with those crusty parts of our lives that we have neglected, sometimes for good reasons, but most often for the wrong ones. Let’s look at examples to give you an idea what this is about and how dealing with it can actually enhance your life and give you experiences that you will cherish more than hanging on to the same old, same old.

Running a business involves an awful lot of correspondence, data exchange, brochures, invoices and all kinds of explanatory materials, without even taking into account legal documents, banking, registration materials, etc. This exchange of paperwork comes in two main forms: physical papers and electronic versions thereof. Running a business with two reference files is making things not just inefficient, but sometimes frustrating because many matters might involve both types of files.

This has an obvious solution: sticking to one of the two version and making sure to convert all materials from the other one, meaning to print out all electronic materials and keep a complete paper file, or scanning the paper materials and keep a complete electronic filing system.

This may seem a little premature, but bear with me and hear the question: “Are you ready for going on vacation?” It seems like such a simple question that most people would answer with “Apart from the actual packing, I’m pretty much ready.” …and they would probably be wrong.

Let’s take a good look at preparations that you may want to keep in mind.

All those working with computers and creating documents you need to retain for practical, tax or sentimental reasons – and that definition really includes pretty much everyone – will likely have heard about and/or dealt with the idea of cloud storage.

Cloud storage has a couple of wonderful applications, but it also has its drawbacks. The biggest advantage is the ease of access to data for multiple users and/or from multiple devices. Sadly, this is also its biggest Achilles' heel: with ease of access comes a difficult tight-rope act to ensure data security!