https://www.bin-store.com/blog

If you are thinking about decluttering your home and life, it can be tough to get motivated and stay committed long enough to complete the task. But doing so is well worth it, not just for the goal of tidiness, but also for the intangible benefits you’ll pick up along the way.

What kinds of “intangible benefits” can you get from decluttering? Well, you’ll probably learn quite a bit about cleaning, organizing, and even your own values. Since everyone’s wants and needs in life vary, there is no way to say exactly what those lessons will be for you, but here are some possibilities.

1. You may discover you are stuck in the past—or the future.
A lot of people who have a hard time deciding what to declutter struggle because they are either worried about the future or dwelling on a time in the past when they didn’t have what they needed. Decluttering can act as a reminder to live in the present.

2. You may question your traditions and assumptions.
It can be frustrating to spend a whole year actively trying to declutter only to have all your efforts undone when the holidays roll around. Suddenly you have a whole new pile of clutter that you never meant to obtain in the first place.

This is a great opportunity to rethink how you approach the holidays. Don’t be afraid to talk to relatives and friends about your goals. Instead of giving each other material gifts, you can look for other ways to share your affection over the holidays. Buy each other concert tickets, sports tickets or other experiences, or just find a way to spend more time together. You may discover these new traditions you create are more rewarding than the old ones you inherited.

3. The system that works for you will be unique to your needs and personality.
If you have been looking for the best way to declutter your home or the best way to declutter a closet, you will find that there are pretty much endless different methods and techniques out there.

But one thing you will eventually learn as you tackle your projects is that the best system for someone else may or may not be the best system for you.

You also may discover that nobody else’s system of decluttering is perfect for you. Sometimes we have to create our own methods, or modify other peoples’ techniques to work for us. In doing so, we learn a lot about how we can work most effectively. We can then apply these lessons to our other projects both at home and in our workplaces.

4. No one can tell you what you value.
Ultimately, decluttering is a process of culling the wheat from the chaff. You are deciding what is worth keeping, and what isn’t. A lot of people are going to offer you their opinions on what is “important,” but you are the one who needs to decide what matters to you. This makes decluttering a process of self-discovery.

Now you know some intangible benefits of decluttering which go far beyond the space you free up. I hope this gives you more incentive to embark on those projects you’ve been putting off!