5 Benefits of Decluttering (that aren’t the ones you think)
In partnership with Swoon Spaces
The process of decluttering has an undeniable ability to change your life. It can allow you to live more freely in your physical space but it also has a plethora of other benefits, some of which you might not even realize. We at Swoon Spaces, a professional organizing company based in NYC + LA, believe that organizing is an often overlooked form of self-care. And we also believe that decluttering is a huge part of that. Decluttering your home is similar to going through a detox, just with purging your personal belongings and the unsupportive or limiting feelings that might be attached to them.
The goal for decluttering your home is not necessarily to get rid of as much as possible, but instead, to realize what you need and love to make your home a calm and peaceful place for you to feel sustained, inspired and free to grow. The goal is to make your physical space reflective of the person you are TODAY, or even more importantly, the person you want to evolve into. The state of our space is often reflective of our feelings about ourselves, and when our homes are tidy and organized, our emotional well-being can truly be nurtured, focused and confident. For many of us, decluttering can be an emotional process, but it is undoubtedly worthwhile and can have such a strong impact on our overall happiness. We’ve outlined a few of the unexpected benefits that decluttering can have on things other than your space.
5 Ways Decluttering Can Positively Impact Your Overall Wellbeing
1. Decluttering can free up your physical space AND your mind
When you go through the process of decluttering, you are able to get rid of items that are no longer serving you and are, frankly, just taking up valuable space (in your home and in your mind). Without those unnecessary blockages, you are left with an environment that can truly feed your growth, productivity, and creativity.
2. You are reminded of what you need and love now
When you detox your home, you are given the opportunity to part with items that served your past self. A lot of times we hang on to items because they have sentimental value, which is okay. But other times we hold on to things because they trigger guilt, past disappointment or sometimes, even fear. Decluttering is a good way to live in the present and make space for your future, instead of lingering in the past.
3. Decluttering spaces will give you energy
Cluttered spaces (including visual clutter!) take up to 50% more brain power and mental energy to keep track of and navigate. By cutting down on clutter, you will automatically have more energy, as you won’t be wasting it by looking at or maintaining all your items.
4. Lowered stress and anxiety levels
This one kind of goes hand-in-hand with higher energy levels, but when people have a lot of items to worry about, they tend to have higher levels of cortisol, the hormone that increases as a response to your stress and anxiety. By decreasing the number of things in your home, you won’t have additional stimuli that causes you to feel stress and anxiety.
5. Improved focus
As mentioned, visual clutter requires more energy to process, which in turn makes it difficult to focus on the task at hand. Whether it’s work, cooking in the kitchen, reading a book, or playing with your kids, unnecessary distractions make for an extremely chaotic home life. Decluttering can allow your home to be a more peaceful place where you can focus more easily.
Decluttering can entirely change your mental and emotional state. Clutter has a tendency to make us feel trapped or stuck. Doing a deep declutter (we recommend twice a year) and then a regular practice of decluttering can help you feel liberated in your space much more easily and for longer periods of time. It doesn’t need to be a huge two or three-day project. If you do it once or twice a year and are able to keep up a regular practice, you will almost always feel lighter and be able to enjoy a clutter-free sanctuary.
Another strong recommendation we have is to declutter before a move, not after. We did a full declutter with Lily before her move and it made all the difference. We edited her entire apartment and it made the move so much easier! She was able to move into her new place with exactly what she loves and needs, nothing more. She was also able to know her inventory before setting up in a new home and knew exactly what she needed to buy, without wasting money on duplicates.
I’d like to leave you with one more thought on decluttering. I just can’t say enough about how big of an impact it can have on a person’s mental and emotional health. Once you learn the difference between living with clutter and living without it, I promise you will feel like a fog has been lifted, both mentally and physically, and you won’t ever look back.
If you need any help with the decluttering process, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us! Our mission is to bring you from chaos to calm by liberating your space.