How Decluttering Frees You Up

The idea of decluttering gets thrown around a lot these days, but when you’re busy and barely have time to get a load of washing on or get through your workday, it’s easy to question why you should bother decluttering, too. However, anyone looking for more freedom in their life should be encouraged to declutter, as it can and does change lives.

Why declutter?

The obvious reason to declutter is to give you more space in your home. You’ll find it easier, with fewer possessions, to clean your house and give everything a place, and you won’t constantly trip over “stuff” in your path. Decluttering gives you more mental space, too. Having piles of possessions everywhere you look drains energy, is stressful, and can be incredibly distracting, particularly if you work from home.

Another benefit of decluttering is that it forces you to decide what’s truly important to you. When you decide whether to keep or say goodbye to objects, you become more focused on your goals, values, and priorities. This bleeds into other areas of your life and can help increase productivity and make it easier for you to get motivated to achieve your dreams.

Of course, decluttering also assists with financial freedom. When you find a variety of items you don’t need and sell these off, you make extra money to put into your savings account. Plus, people who regularly declutter are encouraged to stop and think about whether they really want or need something before they buy new goods. After all, once you’ve spent time decluttering, you won’t want to go filling your house straight back up again.

Decluttering can also give you freedom in that, with fewer belongings at home, it’s easier to redecorate or move house when you want to. Plus, you’ll be better able to travel for extended periods or even rent your streamlined, clutter-free house out while you’re away.

Tips for Decluttering

There are numerous ways to go about decluttering, but many experts recommend either going room by room and concentrating on just one area at a time (or one space within a room as needed), or going through your belongings by type. For example, declutter your sporting equipment, then cooking and eating items, clothing, books, paperwork, toys, then entertainment gear, etc.

As you sort through your possessions, think about why you still own something. If you or a family member uses it regularly and/or it “sparks joy” for you, as organisational guru Marie Kondo talks about, keep it. However, if you have things you’re keeping purely because you might use them “one day”, or because they were a gift (even though you don’t like them), it’s probably time to say goodbye.

Try only to handle goods once, too. That is, decide on items there and then, rather than putting them in a pile to come back to. Handling things multiple times just makes the process harder and long and drawn out. Don’t box items up and put them in storage to avoid making a decision, either. This retains the clutter, even if it’s more organised and perhaps out of sight most of the time in a storage area.

Be wary of keeping belongings just because they were a bargain buy or because they bring back a memory for you. If you don’t use something, it’s not much of a bargain at all and is best sent on its way. When it comes to memories, remember that you can take photos of possessions for posterity, or choose just a small number of items from a group (such as your child’s toys or drawings) to keep, and part with the rest.

Create time to spend on digital decluttering, too. If you’re like most people, you have all sorts of online documents and photos you keep meaning to go through. This is probably nagging at you all the time, so the sooner you can go through it and get organised, the more liberated you will feel. It will also likely help you to think about your goals and finances, which is helpful.

Decluttering works best if you get your whole family involved. Get your children to go through their possessions, and help them set up designated spaces for their items to be put away at the end of each day. Explain to them that the toys, books, clothes, etc. they’ve grown out of will be donated to another child in need. Once children see the work involved in decluttering and learn how many things they have when others aren’t so fortunate, they’re usually less wanting in the future.

Decluttering can be a big job and one that’s easy to put off. However, by setting yourself a goal to go through your house by a certain date, bit by bit, you’ll soon get through it all and will feel like a burden has been lifted off your shoulders.