Benefits of Purposeful Decluttering
source: Ian Sterling
Decluttering means different things to different people, and there are many ways to approach it. But before you begin, be sure to define what decluttering means to you and what you hope to accomplish by decluttering – such as when I set out on my decluttering mission – to help you make the hard decisions about what to keep and what to give away.
What Does It Mean to Declutter?
My definition of decluttering is simply getting rid of those things which have a higher cost than their benefit. I don’t necessarily mean the financial cost, but rather the cost in terms of the space they take up and the time they waste (to dust, move, think about, etc.) just by being in your home.
By decluttering your home and giving away, selling or trashing any items that aren’t making your life richer, you are able to simplify and enjoy life more.
Benefits of Decluttering
With that in mind, here are a few benefits of decluttering that you may or may not have thought of:
- The more you practice evaluating the value of things in your life, the less attached you become to stuff in general.
- As you purposefully declutter your home, you’ll realize how much stuff you truly have and start to evaluate future purchases more carefully, which will ultimately save you money as well.
- If you are more of a keeper and your spouse is not, starting the decluttering process can reduce the conflict around that issue. Of course, decluttering can cause conflict if you start giving away your spouse’s things without their permission, so I don’t recommend doing that!
- You’ll spend less time dusting and cleaning.
- You’ll have a better idea of where things are in your home and be able to find them more quickly and easily.
What is the biggest benefit you’ve noticed from decluttering? If you’re avoiding getting started, what is holding you back?
It is so nice to go to a closet and find what you are looking for, it is so nice to open a kids drawer and with a glance know I need to get them new socks or a new sweater. It is lovely to look at a book case and find the book I am looking for… It is so nice to start a project without the guilt of five projects staring at me because I started to do them ten years ago – interests change, life changes and let old undone, never to be done projects go!!! We have just come out of about two years of decluttering… the first time got rid of a heap of chunk, the second time I was better at it and got rid of more, the third time if I didn’t totally love it it went… and so on. When I did a huge kitchen unpack and sort and declutter recently I got rid of about five small things and I realize we are now at a live-able level. We have stopped buying things we don’t totally love, we have stopped buying lots of gifts – our house was packed with books unread, crafts well intended and never touched, in fact all sorts of brand new things… we gifted them on. We have stopped spending hours on maintenance of things we don’t totally love!!! And as long as I do a little maintenance on a daily, weekly, monthly basis we are fine.
se7en´s last blog ..The Week That Was – 2.44
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I’m starting to reevaluate the stuff in my life and I am getting better at letting go. I’ve started a box in the hallway for charity donations. I get about a call a week to donate something. I find if I’m not wearing it, using it, or my kids aren’t playing with it, away it goes! I’m still not ready to declutter the basement storage by myself. Though, my husband and I have promised each other at least one day this summer we will get a babysitter for the kids and then he and I will do some serious de-cluttering!
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A great benefit for me was that I was able to make a note of all the unfinished projects I was storing and slowly complete each one or donate it if it was something I no longer had interest in.
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I love that my husband is getting on board with this. I moved into his home with very few belongings. Clothes and a few tubs of journals, photo albums and a model horse collection (which I later thinned to less than half of a lifetime of collecting).
Every few months, we go through the house and last month, was the garage. He’d been collecting military gear for years and finally decided he didn’t need it all. Nothing happens immediately with him, so I think it’s a good idea to do this regularly so he see how much stuff he has (which still isn’t a crazy amount) and on the next round, he usually vocalizes “Huh, I kept this thing last time, but haven’t used it since, so.. off it goes!”
I love having orderly drawers and closets and knowing where to find everything.
Newlywed & Unemployed´s last blog ..A Dietary Realization
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I have recently been on a purging spree. I have gone through my entire kitchen, master bedroom, bathroom, and one son’s room plus my basement storage area and craft area…WOW is all I can say. TOO much everything!
As I cruise through craft stores, and thrift shops (favorite places to shop) I ask myself am I going to use this right away? is it unique enough that I wouldn’t be able to find it again and can I use if for multiple uses? This has really cut down on my aquiring things I don’t need.
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I’m avoiding getting started because I don’t have big chunks of time (or even the space in our house) to deal with big decluttering projects. I think I’ll just have to do a little by little, every day, when and where I can. I don’t think I can expect to make huge dents in our clutter, just little ones. But, all those little organizing times will add up!
I’m busy with 3 little ones (4, almost 2, and 4 months)so that takes most of my time and energy. But, I would like to have a more organized home that is peaceful – for me, my husband and kids.
This is is good to write this down…its motivating and may help me get started!
Erin´s last blog ..April Update
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The last 13 years, I have been living in chaos. I finally asked for help, and I am well on my my. It won’t be done in a week, but after a month, my main level is done, and upstairs is getting there. Onyl the basement and garage are left. So I presume at least another 6-8 weeks. I am paying a professional organizer one hour a week to come and “coach” me on what I need to do. I set a weekly goal, and then she comes on Friday… now there is some pressure to have the job done! I needed the help, becuase otherwise I was not really decluttering, only moving things around.
It feels great, and I know that I cannot clear 13 years of STUFF in a month. Baby steps!
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