My friend from church is 73, and I can barely keep up with her.
On Mondays she walks three miles with a group from church. On Tuesdays she volunteers at the food pantry. She sings in the choir, keeps a big vegetable garden and drives her grandkids to soccer.
So when she told me she was decluttering her house, I said, “Why? You’re busier than I am.”
She laughed. “That’s exactly why.”
Most of what you read about decluttering in your 70s is about slowing down. Making the house safer, lifting less and getting ready for the years ahead. That’s good advice, and many women need it.
But my friend isn’t slowing down. She’s speeding up. And she said her stuff was starting to get in the way of the life she wanted to live.
So I asked her how she did it. This is her way of decluttering in your 70s, for the woman who’s healthy, busy and still going strong.
Why a Busy Woman Needs Less Stuff
My friend said it best. “I don’t have time to look for things.”
When she’s heading out the door to the food pantry, she doesn’t want to hunt for her car keys under a pile of mail. When her granddaughter calls about a ride, she wants to grab her purse and go.
Clutter costs time. And when you have a full calendar, time is the thing you can’t buy more of.
She also said this, and I loved it. “I’m not getting ready to slow down. I’m getting ready to keep going.”