Decluttering: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

I have talked about decluttering a lot....I have promised it, I have been overwhelmed by it, I've decribed it, set up schedules for it, been inspired by it and been undone by it. Decluttering is probably the single biggest thing that could make my life easier...so WHY isn't it happening the way I want it to?

• Time: with everything time is a big factor, hard to squeeze in declutter time when so many other obligations and distractions call to me. And no matter how you look at it decluttering takes time...its not JUST about throwing away things...its about making choices about things, sorting things, rehousing things, and then donating or disposing of things.
• Stuff: I have too much stuff...and well that is what decluttering is all about....the amount of stuff to look through and work through is sort of overwhleming. The stuff comes in all sorts of categories...some is stuff that is important and just not organized and stored correctly, some is stuff that might have some value but do I really need it?, some is just pretty stuff, some is fun stuff, some is simply JUNK that needs to go....
• Storage: Lots of questions about storage....the rule of thumb is not to buy storage containers or items UNTIL after you declutter and see just what you need....good advice becuase I tend to stuff things into containers and well...maybe it was stuff that should have just GONE away...but at the same time...what exactly do I do with the stuff I know I'm keeping. Where do I put it, how do I remember where I put it, what makes sense where? So questions like that just STOP me in my track and I have yet to find good answers for some of them.
• Motivation: It's hard to be motivated...first of all there's a lot to do and second of all its hard enough to keep up with the regular chores...add a decluttering project to it and well....one would rather just write a blog post about decluttering than really do it. Yes, I know baby steps BUT it's hard to get motivated when you declutter a few square feet which are sure to start collecting something even before you get moticated enough for the next round...uuuugggghhh!!!

So those are the main areas and how they seem to impact my decluttering efforts...suffice to say things go slow, then hit a complete stop, then I get annoyed for lack of accomplishment, then I charge forward with energy for a bit, then things come up, and then so on and so on...BUT time to get off the computer for now and get busy....cleaning...with some decluttering along the way.