What the heck is a Garbage Model?

Decluttering resistance looks a lot like stubbornness

Some people put up a big resistance to decluttering.

Why be so stubborn about what is clearly trash?

The fake excuses are annoying.

The excuses may be fake.

But, the fear of making a mistake is real.

The struggle to grasp what is garbage and what isn't... also real.

They lack a model for what's garbage.

A garbage model might sound like discard rules.

They aren't the same.

Discard rules are intellectual.

A garbage model comes from a deeper, more honest place.

You may have discard rules like "not worn in a year it goes"

These rules often don’t help get you anywhere with decluttering.

They don’t work because they don’t reflect what you find valuable.

Besides, rules need to be improved on when they don't work.

It's tedious.

And a good reason to declutter later. Or never.

Discard decisions need to come from your gut

And be acted on automatically with no mulling over.

When your gut tells you that it's OK to throw the thing out...

That's your garbage model speaking.

A big declutter with Mary (not her real name)

We got to the point where Mary acknowledged that she had too many shirts.

Organizing alone would not eliminate the clutter.

She did discard, reluctantly and because she felt it was expected.

Yes, stuff was removed, space was gained.

But it's wasn't letting go.

That suddenly changed.

We got to a closet rack filled with empty hangers.

Mary, with enthusiasm, chose the keeper hangers and threw the rest out.

This was all Mary. I got out of the way.

Next, with purpose and quickly, Mary cleared her desk of bits and bobs.

She gave me a really happy smile!

This is gut feel discarding in action.

I'm not going to lie.

Mary had more decluttering rounds ahead to continue building a model for garbage.

Grasping for other possessions, what was no longer of value in her life.

Also, at the same time, clarifying her values.

She went into the next decluttering round with a base to work from.

A sense of what it's like to throw out possessions without fear.