Covid and the lockdown sucked but was extraordinarily productive for one thing:  downsizing.  I spent many hours doing a wide variety of projects to de-clutter my life that continue to this day with huge benefits to them.  Future trips and cycling tours will certainly reap the rewards of this work.  So for that I have covid to be thankful for.  Otherwise I never would have done all this.

At this point there are two things to note.  One is that looking back, I can't believe how much clutter accumulated in my life and how much I was able to get rid of already.  The second is that I saw large volumes of clutter that other people had gotten bogged down with during the trip.

For the lifestyle in which I live and want to live going forward, clutter is a no go.  There is zero benefit to having it, and the clutter acts as an unnecessary drag.  It keeps you tied down because you're too attached to stuff you don't need anyway and can't leave it.  Getting rid of clutter doesn't need to happen overnight, but making a multi-year plan to de-clutter is an investment worth many returns.  To start, you might consider a general outline as follows: 

1.  Make an inventory of the clutter you have vs. the items that you actually use on a regular basis.  You might find you are using far less than you have.

2.  Categorize the clutter into various action piles and make a plan for how you will get rid of them.  For example:

Pile A:   old clothes that can be given away or sold

Pile B:  old books that can be downloaded online as PDF files and then sold

Pile C:  papers that can be digitized

Pile D:  coins that can be gradually spent

Pile E:  old electronics such as computers and phones.  The files can be consolidated onto a central 'black box' such as a high capacity external hard drive, and then also uploaded to a cloud.  Once that is done, toss the computers and phones out.

Pile F:  various miscellaneous

At some point you might need a temporary storage locker, then a gradual plan for how to get rid of the items and estimate how long it will take.  Then you sign a contract with the storage locker with the idea that when the contract ends, you walk out of that place emptied out.  Under no circumstances do you extend the contract or go for 'indefinite' storage, otherwise you'll never touch the stuff for years and it wastes money paying for the locker rent.  And since you're not touching the stuff it proves you don't need it anyway.

So when you've set yourself a time limit, you put pressure on yourself to make frequent visits to the storage locker where you do ongoing inventory of what is in the totes and find creative ways to get rid of stuff.  Unexpected opportunities will come up, and you pounce on them.  For example I got a message saying there is a charity sale for some event and they want all these old miscellaneous items.  Another message said we want clothes donations etc..   All you do is have a vision for how you plan your de-cluttering and the universe will come along to help in alignment with that.

The overall purpose for doing all of this is that you'll eventually get everything down to a minimum where it unlocks more benefits as the next takeaway will get into.