If you feel stuck when it comes to organizing or decluttering, please take these as formal permission from me to you:

• You have permission to let go of that thing someone gave you. Even if it was expensive, or came with a backstory.
  • If you had something come to mind as soon as you read the sentence above, then that is the item I’m talking about. A gift is truly about the thought, and you can honor the relationship while also honoring that you do not like / want / need the gift. Sometimes it can feel like you have more permission because you might be allergic to the gift, or physically not able to use it. But when you find yourself sort of ambivalent about the item, and holding on to it simply because it was gifted to you, know that it is okay to let it go. *But maybe you drop it off at a thrift store or charity that isn’t in the neighborhood of the gift giver just in case 😉
• You have permission to throw that thing away
  • Many of us are concerned about being sustainable, and not creating waste and therefore get stuck in a cycle of trying to be “perfect” about how things leave our house. However, sometimes this creates a section of your home that is acting as a mini landfill. Trying to be perfect about handling waste often holds people back from being able function and think clearly, because the items are filling a room. You have permission to put that thing in the trash, and get it out of your home. The best way for us to limit waste, is to consume less in the first place, but most of us feel like we learned that lesson too late in life. So, if you have a backlog of items that you’ve been planning to mend/fix/repair for several years out of landfill guilt, take a look and be honest with yourself if you are actually going to do that or if you just feel like you “should” or “might” one day.
• You have permission to not finish that book or that craft project
  • Life is too short to read every book that interests us, and too short to complete every single idea we have for a fun craft. Yet, we often hang on to a half-read book, or 1/3 completed craft project (or just the supplies for the project) for years. It can feel like wasted time if we don’t finish something, so it is almost as if seeing it around the house will one day make us want to go back and finish it. But chances are that you stopped reading that book because it wasn’t resonating with you or interesting to you. And you might have stopped that project because you found something else that was more engaging. That is okay! There is no test at the end of your life to prove you have finished every book in a series just because you liked the first one, or to see if you remember what happened at the end of a specific novel. Nor is there one to make sure you finished that jigsaw puzzle, or knitted that scarf. Go ahead and move those items along to donation where someone else can give them a try.

In general, please give yourself permission to let go of items that are not adding to the life you want to live today. This can free your space and your mind for all the things yet to come that you do want. (Rather than holding space for that mug you don’t like, or that book that is recommended but that you don’t actually want to read.)

Want more examples of items to let go of? Read 35 Items you will not miss here.