"The secret to dealing with clutter and changing your life is to realize that 1) you don't need as much stuff, and 2) that by having less you are opening your life up, lightening it and creating an environment that will allow you to flourish and reach your greatest potential. It's not just about letting go, it's about realizing how much more life you can have.
Take books, for example. While books are great resources and markers of experience, we all tend to hold on to more than we actually use. And many of us hold on tightly! In order to declutter them, we need to realize that books are collections of memories and old thoughts, not new ones. 'Holding onto old books doesn't allow you to create space for new ideas and ways of thinking to come into your life', says Karen Kingston, who wrote Creating Sacred Space with Feng Shui.
Taking this one step further, holding onto ANYTHING that doesn't have a working role in your home won't allow you to create new space for ANYTHING new to come into your life -- things, jobs, people, opportunities, etc Even as we bring new things in, we need to bring old things out. In this way, we ensure a vital life flow in our lives."