How do you Successfully Purge with Purpose?

Clutter creates Chaos!

Purge rhymes with urge, and when you have a powerful urge to throw stuff away or clean something out, you have an urge to purge. From the Latin purgare, meaning “purify,” purge is used as a verb for removing impure things, whether they are items we no longer use or guilty feelings in a person or even simply rotten vegetables in a refrigerator.

The Journey

Seeing we are just about 30 days until my birthday and walking through another “Journey” together, I thought I would take a moment and remind you why we started this path.

“And so it begins, my journey to the best version of me” Please know that I realize I am not broken, and neither are you – this isn’t some need to literally “fix” myself as I am awesome – you are awesome, and WE are strong.

Clearing out –

The well-being practice for Week 5 of my most recent Whole Life Challenge was “clearing out and cleaning up.” Oh my, it was probably the most satisfying part of my day!

Find an area (your desk, a closet, or a corner of a room) and seize a tiny fraction of your day, just 10 minutes, and make three piles – TOSS, DONATE and KEEP. The TOSS and DONATE piles should have more items than the KEEP pile!

Have Fun!

And let’s have FUN while working on this new habit! Throw a little dance party and burn a few calories while cleaning out and filling two needs with one deed!

Chaos = complete disorder and confusion

When we have things lying around our house, it can cause stress; when we have too much clutter and too much stuff, it can cause anxiety. 

A house is just a place to keep your stuff while you are out getting more stuff!

George Carlin

Your house shouldn’t be just a place where you keep all of your “stuff‘; it should be a sanctuary, a place of peace. It should be a HOME.

Most of us hold on to things longer than we should. Some have pictures or art projects from when our children were 5 and 7 (and now they’re 24 and almost 26)! Others have a pillow that is over 50 years old with the stuffing falling out!

Please do not get me wrong; I am not sitting over here in a glasshouse. “Becoming a Minimalist” has been on my to-do list of self-improvement for YEARS!

How do you decide what to keep and what to toss?

“They say” – Hold the item in your hand; does it bring you happiness and joy?

IMHO, that’s all well and good for some of us and maybe even some items, but I have to tell you I do not have the time or the patience to go through that process for every single thing in my house!

There is a little easier and perhaps more logical way of going through this process. Scan a room, and does each object have a purpose? (Oh, did you like that connection!?!).

Take this pillow, for example. My great grandmother, Omi (mom, please keep me honest here), sewed this pillow by hand. 

Cue Heidi’s sidebar

You see, Omi (Maria) lived until she was 100 and was cremated. My youngest was so cute; he leaned over to his brother at her wake and whispered, as only 6-year-olds can, “How did they fit her in that box?”. To which his brother replied, “She was very old and weak. They just folded her in.” 

Ah, to be young and innocent-minded.

Yes, her pillow means a lot to me, but it no longer serves a purpose. It has a huge hole in the back with the stuffing falling out. However, keeping that pillow in a room full of other unused stuff isn’t helping me remember her.

If you think really hard and mentally scan each room, you will find items like my pillow. To help you with the process, before you toss or donate your memorabilia – take a picture and write a letter to your family sharing your memories and why your “pillow” is so important to you, and then let it go.

Take action! 

What I have noticed to work best, create mini-goals as an action plan. I have incorporated three methods of thinking to show you how a goal can become an action plan.

#1 – Create and write out your goal:

• Be specific.
• Envision how you will feel when that goal is accomplished. 
• Make it attainable (big goals and dreams are good too, but not for this exercise). 
• Set a due date.
• Concentrate on one goal at a time, or two (1) personal and (1) business.
• Review your goal(s) 2-4 times per day, at the very least, once in the morning and then just before bed-time.

#2 – Re-write your goal every morning:

• Take a 3×5 card and jot down your goal, your vision, and your intention.
• One side will be your personal goal;
• The second side will be your business goal.

I also use this opportunity as a mini journaling exercise to review where I am and how my work or progress was (or wasn’t) the day before and boost myself for the day ahead of me.

Please remember to forgive yourself if you are not exactly where you expected to be – progress, not perfection, folks.

#3 – Take 21 days to ingrain this habit into your routine:

• When creating your goal and the timeline, set the deadline for 21 days.
• You will most likely have mini stepping stones and deadlines along the way.
• The ultimate objective is to incorporate our new habit (or two) within 21 days.

Yes, I can hear you now. I realize that goals aren’t necessarily habits, but aren’t they to some degree? Our personal goals look like this – eat better, exercise more, sleep better, drink more water (all good habits, yes?)

And our business goals could look something like this – call x number of customers per day, create better marketing emails, increase social media followers.

Okay, perhaps a slight stretch here, but can you see the dotted line to these being good habits, yes?

Now that I have provided a handful of ideas and a few more tools in your toolboxes, let’s make this happen.

I am excited and inspired to initiate “Purging with Purpose” as my next 21-day goal/habit to layer in with the other good practices I have created with this process.

Are you excited too? Will you do this with me?!? Let me know in the comments!!

Thank you for taking this journey with me!

Until next time … Peace and Blessings, Friends!