1) Go shopping with the goal of not buying anything.
Yep, that’s right. Similar to some good old window shopping, the premise here is to give yourself opportunities to work on resisting the urge to buy items you want. It may be the case that you have worked on resisting these urges by simply avoiding places where you like to acquire items, whether it be physical stores, websites, or places/people you get free stuff from. Avoidance, however, is not the answer, at least not in the long-term. You will need to work on resisting the urges when they come up so that you are not continuing to fall into the same pattern of acquiring items you do not need. One of the best ways to create those opportunities is to visit the places you acquire from while not actually acquiring anything. When at that location, you can browse through and find great things you love and want, but the goal is to leave them where they are. Do not acquire them. This will help you build up your resistance to these urges, giving you firsthand experience in seeing that you can tolerate the discomfort and that you do not need to get the items you want.
2) Try not to acquire to feel better.
Acquiring items has likely been a great mood booster for you, experiencing the “thrill of the hunt” and feeling great about getting an item you like. Or maybe you get a rush out of knowing that you got a great deal on an item and love the feeling that you saved money. These are feelings that almost anyone likes to experience, but if you use acquiring as a way to boost your mood over and over again when you are not feeling so positive, then you can find yourself stuck in that cycle of acquiring over and over again to chase that rush. Find a healthy alternative to replace the “thrill of the hunt.” Engage in other activities that are healthy and meaningful to you that won’t contribute to your clutter or debt.
3) Invite people over for the holidays.
…or maybe later in the future. This may be hard for people to imagine while their home is actively cluttered, but having a person over, particularly one who you trust to be understanding and non-judgmental, can be a great motivator to work on reducing your clutter. That person may also act as a helpful, calming presence for you and they can help you maintain focus during the decluttering process.
To read more click on the link below:
We Got This
Lessons learned from OCD
Struggling with tic-like OCD
