Decluttering And Organizing Your Space - Why Bother?
Since spring is right around the corner and is a time of year when many of us take part in what is called “spring cleaning”, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to look into the topic of decluttering your belongings and organizing your physical space.
Topics such as cleaning and organizing are not what we usually associate with fun and enjoyment, but in my experience, I think adopting some weekly or even small daily practices that keep your environment relatively clean and sorted, will greatly improve the way you approach your work and your overall mental state of mind.
I hope that I am able to present these rather dull topics in a more interesting and useful way to you and that you are able to walk away from this with some pieces of advice that you are inspired to apply to your own life.
Happy early spring! 🌸
BENEFITS OF DECLUTTERING, ORGANIZING AND CLEANING
Lets look into some of the reasons why cleaning and organizing your space can be so beneficial and worthwhile to do in the first place:
Saves you time and energy: This will undeniably make it easier to find what you are looking for in the future.
Boosts your mood and relieves anxiety: Many people consider cleaning to be quite a therapeutic activity as you are refreshing the environment around you and in this way bringing new energy into the space. Furthermore, physically cluttered and dense spaces may be additional drivers of anxiety, where we may feel more stressed about more items accumulating around us and loosing control of that.
Enhances your creativity: Cleaning is a great mix of physically moving your body while also letting your mind wander and unwind itself for a bit, which is an ideal time for your brain to process information it previously took in and allow it to generate new ideas, connections and breakthrough that otherwise would not have occurred to you. Although some studies have shown that highly creative people tend to actually thrive more in slightly messy and disordered environments, perhaps helping them with generating more ideas. See what level of cleanliness/ organization you thrive best in and design your space accordingly.
Improves your ability to focus: Although some people may prefer their work enviments to be a bit messy and chaotic, most people tend to focus better when their environment is not providing any additonal distractions which would in the long run hinder your concentration. Consider what objects and clutter are currently negatively interfering with your focus.
Empowers your self esteem: By gaining more control and awareness of your environment, you are through regular practice able to assert more feelings of competency and reassurance of control with accomplishing things.
Relighting inspiration: This may be a result of looking through old items you forgot you had and simply becoming re-inspired to use them again.
Reducing relationship or family tensions: If you share a living space with someone else or several other people who each have their own preferred way of organizing and managing their belongings, then chances are you can run into conflicts about how clean a space should be and what should be placed where. Try and talk this through with the other person/ people and come to a compromise which works for everyone and will reduce fights and unnecessary eruptions of annoyance.
TIPS FOR ORGANIZING & DECLUTTERING YOUR SPACE
Become Better At Organizing:
Grouping together similar items (Examples of groups: Stationary, coats or cooking pots)
Batching all of your cleaning and maintenance work on one day of the week (Eg: Sunday)
Labeling any boxes, bins or drawers in which you store things
Get into the habit of putting away items in their correct place after using them
Consider how you want to organize your belongings (by size, color, name, how often you use the item etc.)
Make the process of cleaning more enjoyable for you (Put on music, listen to a podcast, do it with a friend, or try making it a challenge)
Look where there is currently wasted space in your room or house. How can you make better use of that space?
Learn How To Declutter:
Being intentional what you buy in the first place is the first step of decluttering, as it will prevent unnecessary clutter from building up.
For what you choose to buy ask yourself:
Am I sure that I will really use this?
Is this an impulsive purchase and do I really need this item?
Will owning this item bring me joy?
Would I regret it if I didn't or did buy this item?
Go through the items that you own and for each of them ask yourself:
When was the last time that I used this?
In the case that I have not used this in a while or ever, will I ever get to using it?
Could someone else make better use of this item and appreciate it more than me? If so, put these items toward donations and second hand shops
What is the real cost of owning this item?
How long will it make me happy?
What do I gain by buying this?
Is there something else that can bring me joy?
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope that it was a good use of your time by learning how to take better control and inventory of your physical space. I hope gained insight into how you can use this gained control to improve various aspects of your life such as improving your focus and productivity, maintaining a calmer state of mind or gaining more awareness of your belongings and material purchases. Thanks for reading. 😊
