Last year, my friend moved into a new house and shared a lot about the tremendous amount of decluttering she went through before moving. She only took what she thought she would be happy to have in her new home.

This year, her family came for a one-week visit, so she embarked on another decluttering journey in preparation for the visit. It was funny when she reminded me of the clutter vision we acquire when we think of someone visiting us; we suddenly see items that don’t belong, which we overlooked before.

Although one would assume my friend wouldn’t need to declutter as she got rid of all the excess when she moved a few months ago, it turns out she did not. The truth is we are never really done with excess possessions. That is why we need to stop thinking of decluttering as a project with an end date; it is a habit we keep doing as long as we live, consume, bring in new stuff, and use up stuff.

But we can get better.

We can improve our choices and what we allow into our spaces, physical or digital (Kindle books, anyone?). We can slow the influx of things while maintaining decluttering as a habit, not a once-a-year project.