Decluttering means freeing up the space you live in, your desk and your digital word (yes, that too: pilling up emails, messages, notifications, galleries). The clutter you have in your house usually reflects the clutter you have in your heart and your mind.
In this article we will focus on the physical space you live in.
Why do it?
It’s better for your health. Less furniture and objects, means less dust. If you have respiratory problems, that’s the number one reason. Less dishes and cutlery will implicitly mean less dishes piling up, because you’ll need to use those few that you have and wash them more or less right away.
You gain time. Less things to tidy up. More objects = more opportunities to get distracted. “Hey, I haven’t used this in a while! Why don’t I stop whatever I’m doing and waste some time with this?”
It decreases stress. More stuff laying around simply equals more things to do.
It’s aesthetic. A free space looks better. There’s more light coming in. Besides, is your apartment that big that you can afford to stumble upon things you don’t need when you actually yearn for more space?
You’ll save future money. You’ll think twice about what you’re buying and make your spending more effective.
Hoarding (extreme cluttering) is a mental disorder derived from obsessive compulsive behaviour. It can also be linked to other disorders but that’s the main one. Whenever you are considering throwing an object and your next thought that comes to mind is: “what if I’ll need it one day”? Really? A broken toy? A piece of rubber that costs 2 EUR tops and might lose all elasticity by the time you need it? All your written class notes from ten years ago as if you wouldn’t google the information you need anyway? Do you plan to leave that object to your grandchildren so they can take it to the garbage bin? Do you think your stuff will reach a museum?
Clearing our space, clears our mind. Once you become accustomed to decluttering, you become more organized. You will also save some money which will allow you to invest in what really matters to you. Once you get used to decluttering your physical space, you will start making similar changes in other areas of your life.
It’s not about living with less, it’s about liberating yourself from objects. Trust me, you will feel better.
How?
Don’t start with everything at once. First rookie mistake is to draw everything out of the closet and put it on the bed or the floor. You’ll feel overwhelmed and rush into getting done with it. Instead, take one item at a time and make a decision.
Joy and purpose. The reasoning for keeping an object should be: does it bring me joy? Do I need it? If it’s important to you – a memory- you don’t have to give it up.
Make 3 boxes: For sale, Donations and Trash. Anything that’s not in a good, usable shape should go to Trash. Things that are still fit for purpose will go either in the Sale or Donations box, depending on the value and the effort you would be willing to put in to sell that object.
Bring in a friend to help you, even if it is by just watching. Presenting to another person those ‘valid’ reasons for keeping an object will make it harder to lie to yourself.
If this is the first time you are decluttering your home, once you are done, stop and look at those boxes. Take a mental picture of it or an actual photo. It will change your future behaviour once you realize how much stuff that you didn’t really need, you’ve gathered through the years.
Let us know if this helped you and we’ll follow up with another article on how to declutter your digital space. Good luck!
