I talk a lot about freeing up space in cupboards, closets, shelves and floors. No one ever seems to have questioned me as to what all this space is being freed up for. What is the point in having empty spaces on shelves or floor space that could hold furniture to store or organise all your stuff.
Given that you don’t need to declutter anything if you don’t want to then I could understand why this would come into question. However you wouldn’t even be entertaining the thought of decluttering if being cluttered was working for you.
One thing for sure, that I have mentioned before, is that everything we own requires some sort of maintenance. So the more we own the more effort we have to put in to caring for our stuff. If we aren’t doing that our homes would be a pigsty and some of our stuff will perish prematurely from lack of care. This explains why less stuff is less bother, but it still doesn’t answer the question ~ Why free up space when it is there to be used?.
I have two answers to that question.
Firstly. Even the spaces where we keep our stuff needs maintenance. The dust, grime and wear and tear of everyday life needs to be kept in check in order to retain a clean and functional environment to live in. So the less stuff cluttering up these spaces the easier it is to remove it in order to clean and repair the hardworking surfaces underneath. And also, the less punishment those surfaces endure due to a lighter load the less overall maintenance they will need. The end result being ~ less labour and or less expense.
And my second, but no less important, reason for freeing up space is that the less stuff crammed into a space the easier it is to find and retrieve what you need from it. Once again this saves time and energy. It is so much easier to organise, and maintain organisation, in a space that isn’t jam packed with stuff. The minute you start piling things high and deep, that aren’t exactly the same, time is added to the retrieval process. And likewise, the difficulty returning items will add to the likelihood of messiness taking hold.
It makes me wonder sometime why cupboards, particularly in the kitchen, are build so deep. Pantries are often poorly designed for their function. Designed for maximum storage yes but functionality no.
Could I cram more stuff into the cupboards in my house? Sure IÂ could. Do I want to do that and make life difficult for myself? No, absolutely not. And I especially don’t want to do it with a whole pile of stuff that would get used very seldom. The funny twist to this story is that a lot of what was cluttering up my home in the past was stuff designed to make my work load lighter. But in actual fact it was adding to the problem not solving it.
Life is much simpler for me now and it can be for you too.
Today’s Mini Mission
Tuesday – Declutter small clothing items that you kept just in case when you last purchased new ones. Underwear, socks, Tshirts etc.
“If we do not feel grateful for what we already have, what makes us think we’d be happy with more?†— Unknown
Eco Tip for the Day
Use fewer and less chemicals in your home. I cleaned my whole apartment today. I used a commercially made toilet cleaner and my homemade surface cleaner (made from lemon, vinegar, water and a couple of squirts of biodegradable dishwashing liquid. I could probably even make a toilet cleaner if I put my mind to it, but I use so little of it that I don’t concern myself too much over it. For the floors I only use a microfibre mop and water. Not only is is effective but it is also cheap. Being eco friendly can actually save money when it comes to cleaning. Look around you at airports and shopping centres and you might just notice that the cleaning services are starting to adopt these practices. Not just for the sake of the environment I bet.
For a full list of my eco tips so far click here
It matters not how fast I go, I hurry faster when I’m slow