Looking over at the pile of clutter next to my desk, I caught a glimpse of a penholder full of pens, pencils, highlighters, and markers. Time for decluttering pens!
Right that minute, I decided to go through them and get rid of as many as I could.
Like everything else, I laid them out and started testing them, picking out a few to get rid of. But there were so many and why did I need all of these? Picking them out by onesies and twosies wasn’t going real fast, I was struggling to let them go, and it was stressing me out.
Then I turned it around and asked myself which ones I WANTED to keep.
More specifically, I asked myself, “If I could keep the ones that I really want, the ones that I need and will help me reach my goals, which ones would I keep?”
There was no set amount to keep or get rid of. I was just decluttering pens by way of keeping what I really wanted.
This one thing freed me from the guilt of letting them go.
When I started, I would test a pen and if it worked, I felt like I had to keep it. It’s a functioning pen. It came from somewhere. Either I bought it or I got it at a memorable event, or I got it from some business and I might need the number on it if I ever decide to call them.
Like who looks at pens when they need to find a phone number?
I really felt like I was doing something wrong by letting go of these perfectly fine pens.
Now, armed with this new way of looking at it, I went picking through the pile and found the ones that I know I enjoy writing with. I grabbed a few brand new highlighters and a few Sharpies.
Then I didn’t even look at the rest except to line them up for the picture. (That’s the get rid of pile!)
In case you’re curious, I ended up getting rid of 39 pens. I think that’s pretty good!
Next time you’re decluttering pens and you get stuck, give this a try and see if it helps you too!
P.S. If you’re looking for a decluttering challenge for 2021, head on over to the Nourishing Minimalism website for a free decluttering challenge chart!
I think I got rid of about 400 pens one time – and they all didn’t work! I actually sat and tested each and every one from the pen drawer (yep, it was a drawer dedicated to pens and pencils). I’m down to one pencil cup and one pen cup now.
Wow!!! I can’t believe none of them worked!! That’s a lot!! My mom took like 40 home last week and she said none of them worked lol! So I gave her a bunch more but she hasn’t tested them yet.
That’s an excellent get rid of pile! Except I’m sad about the purple marker, and crayon. May they RIP.
I’m past 325 on my chart!!And my daughter, whom I am helping, is almost at 200!! I enjoy coloring in those squares so much!!