A friend called yesterday, and was she ever high on life. She had just cleaned out 7 bags of stuff from various closets, cabinets, and nooks and crannies of her house. The more she talked, the more excited I got. I started looking around my own house and couldn’t wait to finish certain work requirements so I could start de-cluttering myself.

Shortly thereafter a gentleman came to my door to perform my end-of-lease car inspection. I went to the window in a back room of my house to take a look at what he was doing. I found myself noticing the piles of books and papers on the floor, on the table, and on the couch. I noticed the clutter on my bookshelves that extend from floor to ceiling. My eyes traveled to each shelf. I noticed the haphazard appearance of some of the shelves. I cringed when I noted all the papers and magazines stuffed here and there…too many of the “some day I’ll look at these” kinds of items. All of a sudden the thought hit me. The man said he would only take 15- 30 minutes. What if I kicked it into gear to see how far I could get with transforming that room while he finished inspecting my car?

I started racing around that room as if my life depended on it. I gave those piles of papers and magazines a quick look and made an instant decision – trash or keep. At the end of 20 minutes I was stunned at the difference in that room. In fact, I caught myself strolling in there several times throughout the day, just to re-look at it. It felt so good just to walk in there.

At 4:00 I turned on the Oprah show. Guess what the topic was? Cleaning up our messy houses! Oprah had a gentleman who would ring the doorbell of random houses or apartments and announce he was from the Oprah show and was there to transform their messy house. Wow, some of the closets and table tops and rooms looked way too familiar. I sent a text message to my friend to hurry and turn on Oprah. During one of the commercials she sent a message back saying, “Girl, you should see what I have done today! I feel so free!!!!” I knew that she had gone way past her original 7 bags of stuff!

Here are some of the key lessons from the show. Clutter robs you of peace, harmony, focus, and motivation. Your house is a reflection of what is going on in your life. When things are messy and disorganized, you are really saying “I do not value what I own.” You can’t be focused and targeted, living in a messy, disorganized space.

Before beginning, it is important to start with your vision. What is it you want from your space? It is that vision that will drive what you keep in your space.

When you start the de-cluttering process, there are 4 choices: keep, recycle, trash, donation. The rule is “If you haven’t used it in 12 months, out it goes.” The key is to do this process quickly. Don’t commiserate over every item. Don’t be overwhelmed. Start small. Start today. Just 10 minutes a day will make an amazing difference.

A good motivator for me whenever I am de-cluttering is to also think of how selfish it is to hold onto something that I don’t use. I think of the next person who could really treasure that item and put it to good use. Why should it sit unused in my closet? In so doing I believe we keep the abundance flowing. Clean out what you don’t need and don’t use and make space for exciting new things to come into your life. Oh how exciting to let go of the good so we can open up to embrace the greater good..and to feel so free in the process!