Decluttering by default refers to the act of removing mess from one’s place. Also referred to as ‘tidying up’, it is commonly understood as getting rid of what is not needed from our minds, wardrobes and even homes . We ultimately look forward to the satisfying end result — a clutter-free office, an organised kitchen and even a peaceful mind. It is widely believed that this activity inherently makes us more organised, neater and bring joy to our lives.
Many advocates agree that decluttering does lead to better productivity and control but the question we have is whether or not it is feasible to adopt this organised lifestyle. Can our minds and houses be aligned and ordered 24/7 ? Is it possible to know which item we have in our wardrobe and where we precisely placed it?
Can’t we even allow our desktops to be replete of files and ill-organised for a moment? Can’t we allow our gardens to be full of weeds or even our bags be filled with unnecessary tickets, coupons and papers for a day? Surely, when a dose of laziness and fatigue kicks in, most of us are on the same line. Tidying is not the priority. Especially for young parents, working moms and even for those studying overseas, decluttering is a cumbersome task and often climbs down the ladder of priority.
I believe decluttering should not lead to misery nor should it make us adopt a tight schedule. It should not be an infliction we put on ourselves nor should it be a set of tasks with an impossible target. If we research on tidying up, we will undoubtedly stumble on Marie Kondo. The queen of decluttering herself. She has a Netflix special which revolves around how she transforms fully cluttered rooms to barely recognizable aesthetic ones.
She encourages in casting away ‘what does not spark joy.’ If you hoard 50 pens that you never use, you should most probably discard them. Other of her highly-sought habits include her folding techniques where she proposes to stack clothes facing upwards among other countless folding techniques. Others include sectioning stuff and labeling them properly.
What we, the working class,students and parents seek is practicality. Most of us desire living in clean environments where they have control over what we possess. It may not be a daily or weekly initiative but i believe auditing the stuff we possess, ranging from purses to computers to store rooms is important once in a while.
Yes, there will be the peak times where they will be piles of laundry lurking around completely unorganized. Yes, there will be moments when a hectic work life or other disturbing events will affect the process or even the will to declutter. Yes, there will be some time where one will completely forget the benefit decluttering brings for the sake of practicality.
And for that same sake of practicality that i believe doing it once in a while does impact our lives positively. Finding some time out each month to backup and reorder files in our computers is necessary. Sorting out one’s wardrobe based on one’s own ability and pace is important. I believe that there is no need to rush in discarding stuff we need not. We can even think about recycling what we do not need or even give them away to those less fortunate. Decluttering should be, above all, this eco-friendly act that we engage in.
Remember, decluttering, tidying up or even removing the excess should not be this painful job we force ourselves to do. We can include some flexibility and also aim to be gentle to the environment. It should be this fun thing we do out of love for ourselves and for our surroundings. And for our peace of mind as well.