Dear daughter, I first heard of decluttering by watching videos of minimalism. After listening and reading, I understood the advantages of having a decluttered environment, even if you don’t follow the minimalism movement/philosophy of living.
I remember you told me a couple of days ago that you want to do something that can help you stay organized. I learned that decluttering can be a first step in a journey (yes, it is a journey, not just a set of tasks) to stay organized, and therefore become more productive and happier.
Here I want to introduce you to decluttering as a practice, as well as its benefits for your life.
Table of Contents
- What is decluttering?
- Physical benefits of decluttering
- Mental benefits of decluttering
- Emotional benefits of decluttering
- 18 benefits of decluttering
- Conclusion
What is decluttering?
According to the Oxford Dictionary, decluttering is to “remove unnecessary items from (an untidy or overcrowded place)”.
As you can see from its definition, there is a keyword to pay attention “unnecessary”.
This means that two different people looking at the same place, one might feel that the place is cluttered, and the other one won’t feel that way.
The reason for this is that certain items might be necessary for one of them, but not for the other one.
In short, like with most of the things in life, there is no unique way of deciding, by consensus, if your place is cluttered or not. Only you can decide that, according to the items/things in your environment that are necessary for you.
Now, I want to explain to you some of the benefits of having your environment decluttered.
Physical benefits of decluttering
By physical I mean the physical space around you. It includes your house and your office.
When you declutter your house and office, you will realize that you have more space for the things/items that are necessary for you, or in other words, the things that truly matter to you.
To give you an example, when I moved to my current house, there were no plants at all. The place was very neat, with “lots” of space, and 0 clutter.
But as you know, I love plants. For me, plants are a necessary component of my environment. And for everyone, without plants, there will be no life.
So, I fill up a lot of the space with plants, some of them have flowers, others not. But they make my place like a green (and colorful with the flowers) heaven.
For some people, my place will look cluttered with plants because plants are not necessary for them.
For me, it is not cluttered as they are necessary for me. You get the point.
Apart from having more space for the things that are necessary for you, it can also improve your physical health.
When I’m paying attention to my plants, removing the weeds, watering, and seeing the new sprouts, and the new flowers, it gives me happiness.
Happiness translates into improved physical health, as reported by many authors.
It also reduces stress and anxiety. Having clean and decluttered spaces around you, helps you to reduce stress, something so common in modern life, especially in cities like the one we live in.
So, I hope that by now you already understand some of the benefits that decluttering your physical environment can bring to you.
Mental benefits of decluttering
When your environment is free of clutter, whenever you look you feel good, and your mind won’t wander to places you will want to be, far from the clutter.
Let me give some practical examples.
Remember when your mom insisted that you should make your bed before going out of the room?
Let’s make a thought experiment.
Imagine after 8 hours of work on a Monday, you arrive home, exhausted. You go to your room to change your clothes, to be comfortable. You should visualize it. Then, you see a lot of clothes on top of the bed. They are not organized, just piled up. Also, the bed was not made, and everything was messed up.
How would you feel?
Even if you don’t realize it, anxiety will kick in. Which might be translated to stress.
Think about this different scenario.
You arrive tired at home, and wherever you go inside the house, look tidy, clean, organized, and decluttered.
There is nothing there that will give you stress or anxiety.
So, that’s one of the many ways that decluttering can improve your mental health.
Here is another example. How do you feel when your house has been cleaned recently? Compare that with the feeling when you arrive, and the house is dirty.
Also, when you are in a place free of clutter, it improves your focus so you can do what you are supposed to do. This helps to avoid procrastination.
Now, in that environment, you are not focused on the pile of papers in a corner, the pile of clothes on top of a bed, or many other things that can keep your attention.
Because you are now in an environment that only has what is necessary to you, you can focus on what you need to do, and you feel good because you achieve a lot, and you don’t procrastinate.
Emotional benefits of decluttering
Now, think again of the examples above, imagine yourself feeling relaxed because you are in a neat place, where you only have the things that are necessary to you.
This type of environment can help you get rid of negative feelings. Now you can relax, you don’t see anything you don’t like around you, there is no stress.
This will make you feel at peace. It will definitely help you in your relationship, as you can focus on that, on the relationship, instead of feeling stress and anxiety about all the things around you that are not necessary to you, or you don’t really like.
Here is a list of 18 benefits of decluttering your environment (physical and digital).
18 benefits of decluttering
I found the following to be the benefits of staying in a clutter-free environment.
- Reduce stress. Not seeing a mess around you helps you to reduce stress and anxiety.
- Improve productivity. When you don’t focus on the mess around or the unnecessary things around you, you can actually focus on what you want to do. This will result in an improvement in your productivity.
- Increased happiness. By removing things that are not necessary to you, or that you don’t use, you are freeing space in your home, office, and mind. This will result in more positive feelings and thinking, it will free you from negative thoughts, and it will increase your happiness.
- Improved decision-making. When you have too much stuff, it can be difficult to make decisions about what to keep and what to get rid of. When you declutter, you are making your life simpler, and the simpler your life, the easier to make decisions.
- Increased motivation. When you see your surroundings clean and organized, it can motivate you to take action and achieve your goals. Declutter your home and workspace to create a more positive and productive environment.
- Improved sleep. Clutter can disrupt sleep patterns. When you declutter your bedroom, you can create a more relaxing and restful environment that can help you sleep better.
- Increased creativity. When you have a clear and uncluttered mind, you are more likely to be creative. Declutter your belongings to free up space in your mind and allow your creativity to flow.
- Improved self-esteem. When you get rid of things you don’t need or use, you are essentially letting go of the past. This will result in improving your self-esteem and feel more positive about yourself.
- Increased confidence. When you have a clean and organized home, you feel confident, and in control of your life. Declutter your home to boost your confidence and self-esteem.
- Improved relationships. Clutter can be a source of conflict in relationships. When you declutter your home, you can create a more peaceful and harmonious environment for your relationships to thrive.
- Increased peace of mind. Declutter your home and workspace to create a more calming and relaxing environment that can help you find peace of mind.
- Reduced allergies and asthma. Clutter can trap dust and allergens. Declutter your home to reduce your exposure to dust and allergens and improve your respiratory health.
- Increased safety. Clutter can create tripping hazards. Declutter your home to create a safer environment for you and your family.
- Reduced energy costs. Clutter can block airflow and make it difficult to heat and cool your home. Decluttering your home can help to improve energy efficiency and save you some money on your energy bills.
- Increased motivation to exercise. When your home is cluttered, it can be difficult to find the motivation to exercise. Declutter your home to create a more inviting and comfortable space for exercise. When you exercise regularly, your physical and mental health will improve.
- Increased focus. Clutter can make it difficult to focus and concentrate. Declutter your workspace and get more focused and productive.
- Increased productivity. Clutter can make it difficult to find what you need when you need it. Declutter your home and workspace so you don’t spend unnecessary time finding the things you need, and you will increase your productivity.
- Increased happiness. Studies have shown that decluttering can lead to increased happiness and well-being. When you get rid of things you don’t need or use, you free up space in your home and mind, which can make you feel more positive and relaxed.
Conclusion
As a conclusion, decluttering can bring you many benefits. It has great physical, mental, and emotional benefits. It can greatly improve your life.
Will you try it out?
Please tell me where you will start decluttering.