Do you find yourself feeling unhappy, dissatisfied, and even depressed? You might benefit from some changes in your home that will boost your mood and help you a bit with some of these emotional problems.
Decluttering is often linked to greater joy, and we want to share with you why that is and how you can go about decluttering in your home In such a way that it improves your mood. Here is what you need to know about joy and decluttering and how they go hand in hand for many people.
Less Mental Anxiety
We are living in the most anxious generation right now- a generation that fears for the future, fears what may be hiding in their food, and fears what may be hiding in their home. Some of those fears are made worse by the clutter that is all around us. Our brains are simply overtaxed and overstimulated because of everything that is filling our loves, and specifically our houses.
This may seem like a strange concept to anyone who has not heard of the research, but having clutter in our home can lead to greater anxiety. Your brain may have too much going on because of what it has to process through your eyes. If you cut down on clutter, there is less for your brain to do. It doesn’t have to identify things so often, and it doesn’t have to try to make sense of strange cluttered shapes.
There are a lot of things that our brain does without you asking it to, and if there are a lot of tasks for it to do subconsciously, that can lead to stress. Give your brain a break by decluttering.
The Simple Decluttering Process
How do you go about getting rid of some of the stuff in our home that is making your feel overwhelmed and anxious? There are a few different ways to accomplish this. You have to decide which one you will use for each item you are removing.
You can sell items, and that could lead to greater happiness because you feel like you are basically sitting on money. You may even develop a secondhand business from this method. Try placing items into a yard sale or posting them online to sell them locally.
You can give away items, either to friends and family or to charities. If the items are in good condition, then this is a good method to use, and you can bring some joy into someone else’s life because of your generosity. Look at all you have in your home and think about whether you use it or not and if it might benefit someone else.
You can also trash items, getting rid of them because they are in poor condition, no one may want them, and they probably won’t sell. This can feel like a loss when you toss away something that you paid money for, but you can save some money this way as well. By trashing some items, you may not have the desire to spend more money on new ones, because you know there is a chance you will just toss them out later on.
The final option is to store items away somewhere else, like in a basement, attic, or a storage building. This doesn’t get rid of the item, but it can remove it out of sight and out of mind until you are ready to use it again. This should only be used for items you may sell or use later and don’t have a specific purpose for at the moment.
As you declutter, you will likely see the need for cleaning. If you want to focus on the decluttering and leave the cleaning for someone else, then we suggest checking out Find My Local Cleaner LLC. They can help you locate local experts who can do whatever cleaning you need.
Decluttering Makes You Less Needy
There is a huge benefit to decluttering that many people don’t even realize. Imagine you have a large collection of some items- books, records, stuffed animals, or something else. You decide one day to declutter these and get rid of a lot of them. What that does is give you a new perspective on these items you spent so much time and money collecting. You suddenly start to see them as less important, because by getting rid of them you force yourself to emotionally detach from them.
Now, what happens is that you have less need to buy more of them. You feel less needy, less covetous, and happier. You are able to be more satisfied with what you have and not need as many things to fill up your house and your life. You will spend less money, you will not be as mentally occupied by these things, and you will have more overall satisfaction with your life.
That is pretty amazing once you think about it, especially if you invested a lot into these items. You will enjoy your life more if you are not mentally chained to the things that have held your interest for so long. You will have more freedom, and that can feel wonderful. That you don’t need to keep chasing after collecting more and more can feel liberating to someone who has spent so much thought on what they collected over the years.
Declutter By Assessing Your Needs and Interests
One great way to determine if you should hold on to items is to take a good look at them and determine if you are still interested in them. Decide how they make you feel and if they are providing the fulfillment you thought they would.
You can also assess items based on how often you use them. Consider when the next time you use an item might be, and if you can’t think of a near future date for that, then you may want to get rid of it.
