Take a good hard look at the photo above.
That’s the contents of my purse. Or it was the contents of my purse before I cleaned it out a few days ago. I’ve been carrying that crap around for months.
And my wallet was just as bad. We save all of our receipts, which is probably an outdated practice since most of our purchases are recorded on our credit card statements. When I cleaned out my wallet, I had receipts going back several months. If I had thrown them in the air, I could have had my own Manhattan ticker tape parade.
The awful state of my purse had become a source of negative energy for me…
Rifling through the mess looking for something useful, like a pen, was an exercise in frustration. I spewed all sorts of negative energy into the universe as a result.
And opening my wallet to pay for something was simply embarrassing. The receipts seemed to come alive, trying to scurry out of their confinement as I was digging for cash or the credit card.
Back! Back! Get back in there! Wait, had I said that out loud? Cashiers looked at me with concern.
It had been a while since I had done a feng shui reboot. So this week I turned the spotlight on my purse and wallet in a symbolic effort to take better care of my money.
As always, my go-to guide for feng shui quick fixes is Carol Olmstead’s Feng Shui Quick Guide for Home and Office (affiliate). Sure enough, Carol advises…
“Clean out your wallet, because a messy wallet symbolizes disregard for your wealth.”
It took all of five minutes to clean out the wallet that had been sparking negative energy for months. Why had I waited so long? I made a note to myself to add “clean out wallet” to my once-a-week to-do list.
And as is so often the case, one small feng shui improvement in our lives often leads to another. I couldn’t let my tidy wallet live in my pigsty purse. I could almost hear the wallet yelling “Get me out of here!!” when I dropped it back into the fray.
So, a couple of days later, I dumped the entire contents of the purse out on the counter. Though the task looked daunting at first (again, see photo above), the process was liberating.
First, I found a whole lot of money–crumpled bills and loose change–that I didn’t know I had. I smoothed out the bills with gratitude and provided clean housing (aka tidy wallet) to the runaway money. And I found an un-deposited check from a photography client. Respecting my wealth seemed to make me wealthier on the spot!
Half of the rest of the purse contents could be trashed. I transferred information from appointment cards onto the calendar before throwing them away. I paid the bill I had been carrying around for too long. I threw away old ticket stubs. I returned motion sick pills to the bottle out of which they had fallen.
When the project was finished, I felt like I had taken a shower.
As with all things feng shui, I only do what feels practical for me. I asked for a purple wallet for Christmas, and love the one my husband chose. It turns out that black and red are the most highly recommended wallet colors in feng shui theory. I don’t care. I love my purple wallet and it makes me feel good to look at it.
I have no idea whether cleaning out my wallet and purse will actually make me wealthier. It doesn’t matter. Feng shui for me is more of a game to use to nudge me into action in my clutter clearing and space management efforts.
But I have experienced palpable benefits consistently after clearing pathways for positive energy to flow in my home, garden, and even in my head (meditation is an excellent clutter clearing exercise in that it dissolves our garbage thoughts).
The feeling of spaciousness that comes after I remove clutter of any kind makes me feel calmer, more mindful, and happier.
What about you? What clutter have you cleared out lately? Or what are some problem areas you need to tackle? Please share in the comments!
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