I am in my declutter era—that goes for my house, mind, email inbox, and Facebook friend list. It is so easy to just become surrounded by stuff, even when you're trying to be intentional about doing the exact opposite. Recently, I cleaned out a kitchen drawer that had become a graveyard for plastic grocery bags. Some had receipts in them from almost 10 years ago! The truth is, I hadn't added to that plastic bag stockpile for some time—since the local food co-op stopped offering them and reusable bags have become the norm—but I also never got rid of them either, for fear of being wasteful. It took all of 10 minutes to take them out of the drawer and Google a place nearby to recycle them. I couldn't believe how much lighter I felt after that, and that is what kicked off this decluttering journey. 

For me, books are a big one. I love to read, but I read through books fairly fast, and I'm never sure what to do after I've finished them; some I think I may read again, and I have, but others I just stick on a shelf, never to be touched again. Last week, I tackled some shelves of books that had been collecting dust and dog hair for quite some time. Though not as quick of a fix as the plastic bag drawer, I was able to pare down five shelves to one, and brought a whole laundry basket full of practically new books to the book exchange pile at the recycling center. 

If you have decided that you want to sell your home, a good first step is taking some time to declutter and get rid of things that you don't plan to take with you and that you no longer want. Neutral, clean, decluttered spaces photograph better for listings and can help potential buyers visualize themselves living in the space and adding their own flair to it. 

Though I am mostly on this quest for peace of mind, I am also doing it with the thought that this house may not always be mine. Sometimes I consider living elsewhere and renting it out, or perhaps I'll share the space with someone else someday. Either way, the thought of having to move all of my things all at once overwhelms me, and so much of what I have hasn't been relevant or useful to me for quite some time. I want to minimize the amount of things I have in my immediate day-to-day to make room for what I find most important now. And truthfully, having less to clean is an added bonus. 

Paige O. Roberts has a degree in Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Henniker Review, Sidereal Magazine, Rejection Letters, and Cypress. She has been nominated for a Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize. She lives in northern New Hampshire, where she owns and operates a pet boutique called Tailswag.