The new year is a perfect time to make small changes in your life. If the life you lived last year didn’t bring you happiness or success, try something new and different.
Many people cringe at the words associated with decluttering. Their message is crystal clear. They are not ready to part with their stuff. One of the reasons they keep everything could be the fear of poverty or emotional attachment to their possessions.
If you are thinking about organizing your home, understand the importance of decluttering first. Both serve a purpose in helping you to simplify your life. The thing to remember is to declutter first.
The real reason behind a cluttered home is not a lack of organization. There is simply too much stuff in your home.
Unrealistic goals
Some of my clients have enthusiastic and unrealistic dreams. They wish for a home decorated Martha Stewart style. They spend their time planning, shopping and dreaming of a beautifully decorated and functional home.
They want to skip decluttering altogether. They might conclude that decluttering is unnecessary and a waste of their time.
You can’t hide clutter
Organizing without decluttering is simply moving the clutter around and trying to find space to store your things. Many people have bins, bags and drawers stuffed with things they will never use.
It appears that your home is organized and neat. This is a temporary relief until the clutter shows its ugly head, making you frustrated and embarrassed. Hidden clutter is equally troublesome as the visible one.
Clutter wastes time
When you skip decluttering, you will be living in temporary organized chaos. It will be hard to create a long-lasting and functional home.
Constantly organizing and reorganizing things you don’t need or use is wasting your time and energy. Clutter creates stress that negatively affects your health and the health of your family.
I haven’t met a person who likes living in a cluttered home yet they spend a lifetime doing so.
You don’t need more space
Organizing without decluttering also wastes your space. How often have you wished you had more storage space or a bigger closet?
Maybe you don’t need more space at all, you need less stuff!
Money matters
Organizing without decluttering first can even end up costing you money. Have you ever needed something, but couldn’t find it because it was buried somewhere in all your stuff, so you ended up buying another one?
When you own less, it’s easier to keep track of your stuff, therefore it’s hard for clutter to hide.
Simple mantra
“A place for everything and everything in its place.”
The key to an organized and functional home is making each item easily accessible. This is easy to do when you don’t have too much stuff to begin with.
Transformational life coach Ranka Burzan owns a professional organizing company in the qathet region and has written several books on reducing clutter. For more information, email [email protected] or [email protected].
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