7 Benefits You Never Knew About Decluttering

There’s a lot of areas that can be de-cluttered. Your home, your office, your wardrobe, your email for example, but there’s more to de-cluttering than simply donating some unused items to charity – although that is a great start!

Many people that struggle with clutter report that they feel disorganised, stressed, unable to focus, inadequate or even guilty and are unaware of why they feel the way they do.

Clutter takes up not just physical space, but mental space and energy too. Have you got a pile of paperwork on your bench that you know you need to deal with; or is your wardrobe stuffed full of clothes you don’t actually wear? How do you feel every time you look at those papers or try to find an outfit? I’m guessing you let out a sigh, your shoulders drop and you remind yourself that you really need to do something about it. Now think about how you feel when you sit down to relax for a while. Do you genuinely relax or is there a nagging feeling in the back of your mind telling you that there’s something else you should be doing? That’s how clutter takes up mental space in your mind. Emotional space can be taken up when you’ve got other people’s items in your home. Maybe a friend or family member asked if you could store something for them for a couple of weeks and yet a year later it’s still sitting in your spare room. Each time you see it you’re reminded that it’s still there and it’s taking up your space and it may make you feel a bit grumpy or frustrated that they haven’t come to collect it yet. Do you have any items left from previous relationships or past friendships? Unless the feeling that you get whenever you look at these items is happiness or delight in their beauty, then they need to go as they’re also creating emotional clutter for you.

So, clutter takes up physical, mental and emotional energy and is also a drain on your time and on your finances. How often have you bought something only to find you already had something similar but it was pushed at the back of the cupboard and you’d forgotten it was there? How much time do you spend looking for items that have gotten lost in your clutter or pulling item after item out of your wardrobe trying to decide what to wear?

Take a look around your home. Do you feel happiness and contentment with what you see? If you’ve got things such as past hobbies waiting in the corner for you to return to them, it will cause you not only physical clutter but also emotional clutter each time you look at it. You may have loved it at the time but if it’s no longer serving you or part of your life, it’s time to let it go and give yourself space for something new to enter.

There’s plenty of benefits to being clutter free but here’s some you may not have known. Having a clutter free home or work space gives you: