Declutter your life

Aradhika Sharma

Meet event manager Zoraawar Singh, who lives in jeans and white tee shirts. He rides his ‘trusty old Bullet’ rather than expensive cars. According to Zoraawar, “You can concentrate more on your interests when you aren’t distracted by clothes, food and shopping. Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple Inc, wore the same black turtleneck, blue jeans and New Balance sneakers every day. Is it more important to decide whether to wear a Gucci or an Armani suit or to work on a new version of iPhone?” 

Then there is Marta, the Spanish proprietor of a restaurant in Chandigarh. She recently took the dramatic decision of chopping off her hair completely! “You can’t imagine how liberating it is!” she grins. “It’s so easy to let go of the possessions once you consciously release yourself of vanity.”

Toeing the same line of thought is Supreet Dhiman, who runs Chandigarh Adventure Treks & Sports (CATS). She has taken a conscious decision to “limit her clothes to just what fits on two shelves in her closet”. Her decision was triggered as a necessity when her house was undergoing renovation. She, however, found the change so refreshing that she decided to adopt it completely. “This is not a passing fad,” insists Dhiman. “My philosophy now is: wear confidence on your sleeve; blow-dry and set your capabilities around your head…. What lies between the ears matters more than what covers the body,” she adds. 

These are some examples of people who have consciously tried to minimalise their possessions. The modern malaise of plenty is an offshoot of the  materialistic culture. Increased earnability has provided resources to satisfy desires. The markets have, of course, rushed in to provide greater ease to fulfil these wishes. Shopping, booking and ordering stuff are all but a click away!

Excess has created a reaction as a result of which people are embracing radical cleansing — purging and eliminating the extra, unnecessary, unloved things around them for a less complex lifestyle.

Interestingly, ancient Indian philosophy, too, advocated limiting one’s desires in order to lead a happier, simpler life — a concept many are now embracing. This, of course, does not come in the way of pursuit of excellence or impact work ethics but is a process of dissociation from the unnecessary that we often tend to surround ourselves with.

According to Neelu Sahi, who practices as a dentist in Tucson, USA, “Whenever we would ask our father what we should bring for him from the US, he would say he didn’t need anything! When forced, he would reluctantly allow us to get him a set of golf balls. “I have everything I need,” he would say. But if you opened his closet, it was the barest one you ever saw. He was neither poor nor miserly but he had rid himself of the desire for the extras. He lived a rich and productive life till the end. From him, we learnt to use the three Rs — reduce, reuse and recycle — in our lifestyle choices.” 

People who say their closet is bursting with clothes but there’s nothing to wear will probably head straight towards the shopping mall to add some more stuff to their groaning cupboard, says Sahi. 

Own less, live more

The trend of radical cleansing is catching on globally too. Japanese anti-clutter guru and author Marie Kondo set off a de-cluttering craze across the world with her bestseller The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Kondo is now an organising consultant with a long waiting list of clients. Her mantra is simple: Anything that doesn’t make you happy (spark joy) or isn’t absolutely necessary should be “touched, thanked and either trashed or donated”. The KonMarie method encourages a heartlessly severe approach to de-cluttering, which should be completed in no more than six months.

The results are life-changing. Once you are no longer surrounded by things that you don’t necessarily use or like, other decisions of life become easier. “The inside of a house or apartment after de-cluttering has much in common with a Shinto shrine ... a place where there are no unnecessary things, and our thoughts become clear,” says Kondo. 

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter by Margareta Magnusson is another international bestseller on these lines. Magnusson explains the Swedish concept of döstädning (dö meaning “death” and städning meaning “cleaning”).  Written with doses of Scandinavian humour, she explains the ancient wisdom of sorting out and disposing of many of your belongings before you die to spare your family and friends of that disagreeable duty. “A loved one wishes to inherit nice things from you,” Magnusson writes adding, “Not all things from you”. The apposite age to begin death cleansing, says Magnusson, is 65.

Curtail and cleanse

If you have closets full of clothes you don’t love, shelves of books that you won’t read again, collection of travel souvenirs that won’t see the light of day, boxes of pencils, pens, seashells, marbles, greeting cards, old mobile wires, drawers full of unused cutlery and tableware…you could be a prime candidate for de-cluttering. Voluntary simplicity would mean less to clean and organise, less hassle and added money and vigour for your real interests. However, do it only if you are ready to let go and not regret.

Tips to tidy up 

• Give away one item each day. By discarding things too, we’re freeing up space for the things we love.
• Keeping a thing that maybe useful ‘someday’ is detrimental because ‘someday’ usually 
• never comes.
• Give your objects breathing space. Don’t stuff your closets.
• Donate things you no longer need, like clothes, shoes and other household items in good condition to local charities.
• Get over sunk costs. Don’t hang on to something just because you’ve spent money on it. Keep only if it can add value to your life.
• When was the last time you used it? If you haven’t used something in the past six months, you should probably get rid of it.
• If you love it, then keep it. Otherwise dispose it of.
• Slot days to clean the following: paperwork, purse, fridge, kitchen shelves, bookshelves, CDs, DVDs, linen cupboard, bathroom shelves, etc.