Why Declutter? – Eleven Good Reasons to Declutter if you are Still Pondering the Question

There seems to be a movement of decluttering happening around the world. The movement is gaining momentum as individuals decide that they have too much clutter in their homes or in their lives, and that serious action needs to be taken to do something about.

Why Declutter?

Asking yourself “why declutter ?” is a good question to ask yourself. You might never have asked yourself this question, or perhaps you have pondered the question from time to time.

One strong driver is that you have a strong desire to free yourself of the endless accumulation of possessions collected over the years or perhaps accumulated over many decades.

Here are some reasons which may resonate as to why it would be refreshing to declutter your home or to declutter your life:

Declutter Your Home – It’s In A Messy State

The plain facts are that your house is messy, so you’ve decided to do something about it. It’s not even about accumulating material possessions. You are just sick and tired of the pigsty, so it’s time to do something about it by decluttering your home.

Organization 101 – Changing your Habits

You are not an organized person by nature, and it’s time to change your organizing habits. You see how other people are so organized, and wonder how they manage to keep their life so organized. It’s time to find out how to get organized.

Frugalism

Frugalism is about less wastage and only consuming resources when you need them. We only have so many precious resources in the world, so why engage in wastage through excessive consumption, and wastage. Toss up your wants vs needs, and stick to consuming only resources that you really need.

Green Living

Reducing your consumption of resources can align well with your philosophy in life to tread on the planet more lightly. Incorporate environmentally friendly principles in your life, and your home will be also decluttered since you will apply the 3R principles of reduce, reuse and recycle.

Lost Your Possessions Again?

You keep losing stuff and spend endless time searching for lost items. Here might be a typical scenario…The day begins and as you are about to head out the door, you realize that can’t find your car keys. You usually place it somewhere, but unfortunately that “somewhere” doesn’t register in your head at the moment. The kids are getting anxious, since they are running late for school, and so are you. You find your long lost keys and finally make it out the door.

Decluttering and Perfectionism

Perfectionism doesn’t always help the cause. Perfectionism may be a good trait to have at times, when you are striving to achieve your goals. But perfectionism can also work against you. Think for example of the task of decluttering your home. You decide to declutter just one room, but because you want to get it perfect, you never quite get around to decluttering the room. 80% to 90% perfection is good enough, otherwise it will be difficult to move on to the next decluttering task. If you are bogged down by perfectionism, it may be time to rethink your quest for getting things perfect.

The Quest for Minimalism

The number of people around the world embracing minimalism is huge. Think of the famous blogger Leo Babauta with his simple living manifesto or Everett Bogue on The Art of Being Minimalist with his less than fifty possessions. There are many other minimalism bloggers to name on the quest for minimalism, but the list would make for a separate blog post to name all the great minimalist bloggers out there.

Your Prized Life Long Collection

Have you been treasuring a prized life long collection in your home? Perhaps it could be your ornamental doll collection, your toy train collection, treasured souvenirs collected on all your holidays etc. Your prized collection may be literally taking over your house. Perhaps it’s time to get rid of your prized collection?

Emotional Toll of Clutter

The emotional toll of clutter can be huge. For a hoarder, the serious consequences of obsessive compulsive disorder can be dangerous and devastating to families and friends concerned. Perhaps your clutter problme or hoarding problem is related to a mental issue. It may be time to face up to facts and get some professional hoarding help. Mental problems are often complex, and you will need professional and family support to work through your challenges.

Reducing Material Consumption

Freeing yourself of possessions can be liberating. Excessive material consumption can be draining, and stressful. Keeping up with the Jones can be exhausting. You look next door and spot their brand new luxury car. You don’t want to be beaten, so next month you decide to show the Jones your brand new luxury car. You want to show them that your new car is better and more prestigious their month old car, and so on and so on.

Declutter your Life

Decluttering, minimalism, and simplifying your life go hand in hand. Perhaps you’ve decided it’s time to take action to declutter your life. When will you start this quest? Perhaps today or tomorrow? It’s yours for the choosing, but the sooner you get going, the sooner you will reap the rewards of reducing clutter in your life.