It’s November, a month known for gratitude. In the beginning of the month, we recognize the people who have served our country on Veteran’s Day. Later in the month, we celebrate Thanksgiving to show our gratitude for family, friends, health and happiness.

Except for your home, have you ever offered thanks for something you owned? You may love your clothes, your car, and many of your other possessions-and there’s really nothing wrong with that. But I will bet those things do not get mentioned while celebrating Thanksgiving.

Many people want to remove the clutter in their homes, to be better organized. As a professional organizer, I applaud that objective and will work with anyone intent on bringing order to chaos in their home or business. Yet I can tell right away whether a client is committed to making a change or just looking to tidy things up.

In his Becoming Minimalist blog, Joshua Becker refers to minimalism as an “approach to life focused on purpose, not material possessions.” And that’s a point I try to make when working with clients who want the clutter gone but are not quite ready to make the changes that are really needed. You need to make the adjustment in your mind to make any organizational changes stick.

The month of November offers the best time to make that adjustment. This month, we can start with gratitude for our veterans and extend those sentiments for family, friends, health and wisdom through the Thanksgiving holiday. I encourage you to make a list of all the people and things that you are truly grateful for. You may even want to commit those things to writing-on paper or in an electronic file that you can easily access from time to time.

With a month of gratitude under your belt, you can then embrace the challenge of the gift-giving month of December. Keeping your list in mind, focus on giving that does not add clutter to your home or the homes of others. Consider gifts that add to your memories and those of your loved ones. For example:

• Give gift cards to go see the movies and make a night out together of it rather than buying a DVD to watch at home.
• Take a cooking class with a friend or loved one rather than buying them the latest appliance. If money is a little tighter, make a cooking date at home.
• Make “play dates” with friends to do an activity you both enjoy rather than exchanging presents.

The perception of minimalism used to be an extreme: living with two sets of clothes, one set of cutlery, one bath towel and one wash cloth while living in a one room apartment. The reality, as Joshua Becker so eloquently put it, is that minimalism is about living for a purpose rather than things. If that purpose is giving memories and gratitude, the organizing part will fall into place.

If you would like some help clarifying your intention, give me a call at 508-246-6120.