As someone who struggles with a lot of clutter, I find some of it easier to deal with than others. Anything that can go in the recycling or the garbage I find easy to toss out. But even when I do that, I still have too much stuff lying around.

The stuff I find hard to get rid of is stuff I find useful and that will make my life better somehow. So I was happy when I found this article touch on that: What is aspirational clutter, and how do I get rid of it? It’s a particularly difficult form of clutter to banish from your home because you have to adjust how you think about yourself in the decluttering process.

You probably have lots of aspirational clutter at your home now: those art supplies you never use, those books you will never read, those tools you never pick up, those clothes you will never get to wear. And much more. The usefulness of things and the hope you can become better means they are especially hard to get rid of.

One way to do so is to aspire to something better than also helps you get rid of things. For me, I am inspired by these designs found here: 13 Productive Japanese Home Office Designs – Edward George – edwardgeorgelondon.com. As something of a maximalist, I doubt I will ever get that disciplined in redesigning my work space. But having a goal to become more like that could help me banish so many of the things I have lying around now that someday — SOME DAY — I will get to (but probably won’t).

If you find you still have clutter around your house even after big declutter sessions, ask yourself: is this aspiration clutter? And if it is, ask what do you have to change to be able to deal with it? Perhaps aspiring to live simpler is a way to do that.

For more on Japanese minimalist, check this out: How to Embrace ‘Ma’ (間) and Japanese Minimalism In Your Home – theartofzen.org