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

Planning on doing the hard work of decluttering your home or workplace? Decluttering and organizing your home is no easy task; you will probably spend weeks, months, or even years on it before you get your home into the semblance of order for which you are striving.

Before you jump in, though, it is wise to do a little thinking about your goals, and evaluate what is really important. And that requires asking some basic questions, one of which is, “What is clutter?”

“But that’s obvious,” you might answer. “Clutter is that pile of junk in my corner. Clutter is that untidy mess on my countertop. Clutter is that shelf full of knickknacks in my bedroom.”

While these answers are in line with the most common definitions of clutter, I would propose a new definition:

Clutter is that which does not add value to your life.

When you want to get rid of clutter, it is easy to get extreme about it. A lot of people throw the baby out with the bathwater. They make it their goal to simply get rid of as much of their “stuff” as they possibly can. In many cases, that even includes objects they are attached to. Sometimes they regret it later; sometimes they don’t.

Either way, they feel it is necessary because someone else told them it was. They believe that their home is not really “neat” if they have a lot of possessions.

Sometimes less is more, but “less” does not have to equal “very little” or “nothing.” Ultimately, the person who decides what adds value to your life is not someone else—it is you.

If you make it your goal to remove that which you do not value from your life, you will make decluttering easier and more effective in a number of ways:

• You will not struggle with whether or not to get rid of things you actually care about. You will simply find a place for them.
• You will do some serious thinking about what you value and what you do not. This can guide your future purchase decisions.
• You will do only what you need to. You will not waste time and energy decluttering items you have no reason to part with. This will make you more efficient getting rid of those you do.
• You will feel proud of the progress you make, and judge your efforts and results by your own standards.

For some people, decluttering will be a huge job, and will entail some serious parsing down. But for others, it may not be nearly as big a task as it first appeared.

Once you do remove clutter from your home, you will be left only with items you truly value. Having had a chance to acknowledge their value, you may feel more motivated to organize those items in such a way that their value is recognized and showcased. The result will be a home which is beautiful and comfortable, no matter how many or few items it contains.