Test: What’s holding you back from sorting your clutter?

Much of your clutter represents a deferred decision – items that you’ve kept because you don’t know what to do with them. Any attempt to have a clear-out is inevitably hampered by a doubting voice that asks, ‘Are you sure you won’t regret giving that away?’

The more you defer decisions, the harder it gets to make them, and it may start to impact other areas of your life, keeping you stuck. Others may attribute your clutter to simple disorganization, but it’s more complex than that. Your dread of making a ‘wrong’ decision comes from a lack of confidence in your ability to cope with adverse emotions.

Ask yourself, even if you did at some point have a moment of regret at getting rid of any particular item, would it really be that unbearable? Or would you be able to cope? Living with too much stuff can create a low level of daily irritation and ramp up stress levels. Is it really worth tolerating that every single day, simply to avoid a hypothetical moment of regret in the future?