Benefits of Decluttering (Part I): Results to Expect Immediately in Your Home
So what happens in your home immediately after you declutter in it? What results can you expect? We’ll dive into all of this today!
We’re moving into a 3 part blog series where we discuss all the benefits of decluttering at various stages after you declutter. The value in taking the time to break this down is to help you know what’s ahead and encourage you anytime you start decluttering. So let’s begin with Part I, the immediate benefits and results you can expect when you declutter in your home.
1. Your home will look different.
I’m guessing you knew this part. But let’s unpack it a bit further. When you declutter, your home will look different by way of removing items you no longer need or relocating items that would be best suited for other areas of your home. You’ll see spaces differently as you start to peel back the layers of “non-essentials” that have taken over your home and remove them from your space. This will reduce “visual clutter” that can stack up throughout your home.
Focus on removing items collecting on horizontal surfaces (like counter tops and tops of furniture) that can be donate, recycled, toss or simply tucked away (if it needs to be kept but doesn’t have to be out). Focus on removing items that might be tucked away (and out of sight) that make finding your everyday “essentials” more difficult. Essentials in your home make daily life easier. Decluttering aims to create more ease and more peace throughout your home, putting those essentials into focus.
You’ll also start seeing all your favorite items around your home with fresh eyes. Your favorites (most valued and love items) will take center stage because they’re no longer covered up by items that have no meaning or value to you. Your favorite collections, furniture, artwork, books, photos, etc. will take prominence in your home and add to your daily joy and happiness in your home!
2. Your home will feel different.
The reason why your home will feel different as you move through it (after decluttering in any space) is because there’s physically less stuff weighing down your environment. Each and every item in your home grabs for your attention, so you must be incredibly intentional about what you allow into your home, knowing that it will ultimately pull from your energy/daily bandwidth.
In my own home, and often reported from my clients, is a feeling of ease and lightness that happens in their home as they move through their decluttered spaces. There’s two parts to this: 1) The removal of and lessening of physical objects you have to maintain/clean/care for creates physical lightness and 2) reducing the mental load of things in your space creates mental lightness. The mental load is the weigh of objects grabbing for your attention without you even knowing it, creating visual clutter for your brain to continually process and spend energy on. You feel the relief of this “intangible weight” lifted once items you no longer need are removed from a space and your brain no longer has to make decisions about them. It’s a gift. Get ready for greater focus, clarity of thoughts and calm.
3. You’ll gain confidence with your decision making.
This is often one of the most invaluable and overlooked benefits you’ll gain immediately after decluttering - confidence in your decision making.
Decluttering, as I love to describe to my clients, is much like a muscle. The more you practice, the more you strengthen and fine tune this muscle. If you’ve found yourself struggling to make decisions in other parts of your life, you’ll find decluttering a drawer and making quick, simple decisions a boost for your overall decision making skills.
Decluttering helps you value your current seasons of life, trust yourself/your thoughts, clarify your needs and build confidence in your ability to intentionally act on them. One of the greatest noted stressors in life comes from delayed decision making or procrastination , which often comes from overwhelm. To curb this, start small…I mean really small. One corner of a counter, one small drawer, an everyday bag…then go from there!
COMING UP NEXT in Part II of the Benefits of Decluttering…
The results you can expect in the coming days + weeks after decluttering in your home! See you in the next post!
If you’d like MORE HELP decluttering + lightening the physical + mental load in your home, here’s a few great places to start.
No B.S. Guide To Decluttering Parents + Kids Guide To Decluttering
Free Declutter Guide Learn the basics of Decluttering Organizing Basics
