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This Saturday, Tim and I are going to do an all-flat de-clutter. Cooincidentally, Crabby McSlacker is doing the same thing. She has a good excuse: she’s moving. What’s ours? We simply have too much stuff: clothes we never wear, books we’ve read or are never going to read, dead plants (my fault), an extra blender.

So what does this have to do with being smarter and fitter?

I postulate that having having too much stuff can not only clutter your apartment, but it can also clutter your noggin, distracting you from the important things in life, like cooking nice meals, learning new things, going for long walks, or playing some frisbee. Furthermore, when you have less stuff, you DO more stuff, thus making you happier and healthier.

Here are a few good reads about having less stuff:

• How to Declutter at Zen Habits
• A Guide to Creating a Minimalist Home (also) at Zen Habits
• Doing stuff instead of watching stuff at No Impact Man
• Getting Rid of Stuff You Don’t Need at Cranky Fitness

So what if you really have a lot of stuff, like you could be on one of those cable-tv shows about people who are total packrats. My advice?

• Start by getting rid of one thing a day. Create a Seinfeldian Chain. And keep it going until you die. It won’t take long before you enjoy the feeling of ridding yourself of unnecessary possessions. It’s liberating.
• When you pick up something, ask yourself Have I used/worn/read it in the last three months? If the answer is “no”, then ask yourself Did I really miss it over these last three months? When the answer is again “no”, toss it. Be merciless.

Once you’ve de-cluttered, celebrate. We think our de-clutter will take at least 12 hours. Then we will probably go to the pub. After all, de-cluttering is fantastic exercise and we’ll definitely need to refuel!

Related posts:

1. How to write down your goals
2. Using My Own Seinfeldian Chains
3. Travel Challenges: Keeping up with a food plan
4. Ideas

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