De clutter
Step 3: “Weed” and “Thin” Your Stuff

Weeding your garden means taking out any plants that are not what you want to grow in that area (primarily weeds, hence the term "weeding"). You may also weed out any plants that you didn't intend to grow in that space. For example, if you have a section of your garden intended for carrots, some stray snap pea seeds may have gotten in that section by accident, and now you have a few snap peas growing among your carrots. You might also decide to weed those out as well.

Weeding your stuff as you de clutter means going through each section in your living and working spaces and weeding out the stuff you don't like, you don't use, that's broken, and anything that is not of value in your life right now.

You could call these items your 'non-carrots.'

Keep the items you use and love, and get rid of the stuff that's not doing you any good (you're basically just the caretaker of this stuff).

Thinning is different from weeding. When you thin your carrot patch, you recognize that carrots need enough room, water, sunshine, and nutrients in the soil to grow to be the best carrots they can be. Once the carrots start sprouting, you need to go back through the row of carrots you planted and pull out some of the perfectly good carrots, to give the rest a chance to grow. Otherwise, all of your carrots will be spindly and not taste as wonderful as they could.

Thinning your stuff when you de clutter is very similar to thinning your carrot patch, and is best done after you've done your weeding.

Thinning your stuff means looking at the good stuff that's left over, to make sure it all has room to breathe and be used.

For example, if you have 200 pairs of shoes, I am pretty darn sure that all of those shoes aren't being worn regularly, aren't easy to get at, and are tough to store (unless you live in a mansion).

Thinning through your shoe collection means taking a good look at the shoes you love to wear, and seeing if there are any that are ready to be thinned out.

Same with books, same with utensils in your kitchen, and same with every other area of your home. Most people have multiples or duplicates or excess, and aren't using most of what they have (and are frustrated by lack of storage space). Thin out your stuff when you de clutter, and you'll have a lot more storage space.

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