Outer Order, Inner Calm summary

Sorting through our clutter is often a mammoth undertaking. It’s a task that requires difficult choices as to what to keep and what to throw away.

Moreover, in the process of clearing, keeping and discarding, we must also face the wishful thinking and excuses that have caused us to keep certain possessions for so long. For instance, the author often finds herself hanging onto items of clothing that are too old or stained to be worn anymore. Her excuse? She tells herself she loves these clothes and so she must keep them. But really, they’re just useless clutter.

Once you’ve decided which possessions to keep and which to get rid of, the next step toward external tidiness and inner peace can begin. In this stage, you’ll find an appropriate place for each of your things and make sure they stay there too.

When you’re considering where something should live, bear in mind this simple piece of wisdom: Something you can’t get to is something you won’t use. Therefore, it’s more important to consider how accessible an item will be in a particular place as well as whether it can be stored there. And if you find yourself thinking that storage is more important than accessibility? Well, chances are that you should throw that thing out now because it doesn’t sound like you’re planning on using it.

How well do you know yourself? Although this might seem like an odd question to ask in the context of tidying up, it couldn’t be more relevant to the process of restoring order to your home. Why? Because if you know yourself and what you want, you can reorder your home to help yourself thrive.

The first question you should ask yourself is: what am I specifically trying to achieve by decluttering this particular space? Once you understand why you’re decluttering you’ll be able to spend your energy and your time more productively – and you’ll also know when you’ve achieved success.

Once you’ve successfully decluttered and restored order to your home, you may be thinking, how am I going to keep everything like this?

If you adopt some simple habits to help keep things neat, you can look forward to a lifetime of outer order and inner calm. And the great thing about habits is that after a while they become automatic. In other words, you’ll be maintaining order without even paying it much thought.

It’s finally time to add something to your surroundings instead of merely taking things away. What are we going to add? Beauty, of course.

All too often though, it can be difficult to tell what beauty in our homes should look like. Why? Because what is beautiful is always dependent on what we want our home to be.