Lessons to learn from organising your home

Organising your home might pose be a daunting exercise, but apart from an organised environment to keep you sane, organising and decluttering your home might also teach you some valuable life skills.

The first step toward organising your home, and ultimately also your life, is probably the biggest step you’ll take in the whole process.

Organising is a trainable, ongoing process

Cluttered and disorganised environments have a way to prevent you from focusing, hampering your performance. Learning to keep your living and working spaces orderly and clutter-free is a trainable life skill that needs upkeep, which means it’s an ongoing process.

Organising your home is about being happy

An organised home is ultimately about keeping things that make you happy. Feeling guilty about letting go of items that you rarely use, is not worth it even if it holds some sentimental value. Rather gift it to someone who could use it for its actual purpose. Making someone happy by gifting them with something might even add to your happiness.

Needs VS wants

Organising your home allows you to do some introspection. It helps you to determine which items you really need in your home (and your life) and which ones you want for mere aesthetic or any other reasons.

During the organising process, you’re also bound to come across items tucked away in a cupboard that you were about to go and buy because you had a need and a use for it.

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Letting go

Clearing away the clutter in your life might make you feel more organised, more productive and more in tune with the things that really matter in life. Letting go of the things in your home that just made things seem unorganised is like letting go of emotional things that cloud your judgement. It’s a freeing experience, to say the least.

Re-evaluate what you value most

While organising your home, you are confronted with the question “is this valuable to me?” consistently. Some items that might have had some value to you before may be invaluable to you now and it’s good to take a step back and look at what you value most and what to let go of.

One room at a time

As with many things in life, tackling a challenging bit by bit is best. Organising your home could seem like too big a challenge, but by dividing it into chunks – room by room – you’ll be able to focus on the task at hand and clear up the clutter in no time.

Family trumps clutter

Even though a cluttered, disorganised home has a bigger effect on some than others, it’s important to remember what matters most. Time with your loved ones trumps the time you spend organising your home, no matter how much the desk covered in paperwork or the LEGO-covered playroom is bothering you. If your daughter had a bad day, rather spend time with her talking it through.

Clutter-free equals clear boundaries

A clutter-free environment makes it much easier to set boundaries for yourself and your family. Cleaning up your desk after a full day of work is much easier when there is less clutter and having a specific spot for everything helps speed up the process. Having dedicated storage for the kids’ soft toys will make teaching them about keeping the playroom clutter-free much easier and will make them understand the boundaries clearer.

Less is more when organising

Having fewer items in your home allows you to focus on the things that you value most. It will be easier to take care of these items and your home as well. The less cluttered your home is, the easier it is to notice areas in your home that might need some maintenance.

Although these lessons are rather a clean cut when it comes to your home, room by room, they could also apply to your life. The less cluttered your emotional health, the easier it to figure out your feelings and the clearer the steps to maintain your mental health.