Questions to Help Eliminate Clutter

Asking the right questions can help us make better decisions about what to buy and what to save. Here are some questions to consider.

Unclutterer has a nice list of questions for evaluating new purchases and for deciding what to do about items you already have.

In the book Buried In Treasures, the authors include some sample questions the someone with a hoarding problem might ask to help control out-of-control purchasing, but they might help others, too. Some of the questions are:
- Do I already own something similar?
- Am I buying this because I feel bad (angry, depressed, etc.) right now?
- Will I regret getting this in a week?
- Do I have enough time to fix/use this, or do I have more important priorities?

Peter Walsh, in his book It's All Too Much, says the most important question is, "Does this item enhance and advance the vision I have for the life I want or does it impede that vision?"

Some questions I'll ask, specifically about text books, reference books, newspaper clippings and such are:
- Is that information up-to-date?
- Could you find equally good (or better) information on line, if you ever needed it?

Karen Kingston, in Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui, brings us back to the basics. She writes:
1. Does it lift my energy when I think about it or look at it?
2. Do I absolutely love it?
3. Is it genuinely useful?

If the answer is not a resounding yes to question 1, and an equally resounding yes to either question 2 or 3, then what is it doing in your life?

[image from Napier University Student Support]