In the world of minimalism, having a clean
and organized home seems to be the goal, and
decluttering is a process we look upon. But
little did we know, what seems to be a challenge
for many, might be an addictive action for
some. One that makes us feel that we are in
control. Over-decluttering. That’s when
minimalism has become an obsession, a destination
we try to reach, a number we try to achieve.
However minimalism is never the end goal.
For today, I’m not specifically talking
about compulsive decluttering or spartanism
or any anxiety that is related to OCD, where
clutter causes anxiety.
However, instead of that, let’s talk about
the “high” of decluttering. Decluttering
for the sake of decluttering.
You know, the joy of having sparse living
space.
The sound of clearing your desktop.
The freedom of freeing ourselves from things.
The echo that bounces back from our walls.  (hello~)
Okay maybe not the echo. So for me, after
I finished my 30 days minimalism game, I managed
to declutter 465 items in 30 days. I felt
that I can do more, but this time without
any rules and time constraints. I can remove
things at my own comfortable pace. But I’m
living, sleeping and working in the same room.Tools,
bed and things are all kept in this room.
Once it’s messy, I do have the urge to declutter
my room, just to make space, but I don’t
find it addictive, but I see it as a constant
awareness of being intentional with the things
in my room. We grow and change as the time
passes and during this process, things just
fall apart or become something that has no
value to us. So constantly being intentional
with what we have in our lives can prevent
us from hoarding things.
Even without this as an addiction. It does
create some problems for me. For some reasons
I see decluttering things as a form of work.
It seems as if I’m being productive and
I accomplish something as I declutter. However,
this act is nothing more than a procrastination
and I’m guilty of it. When I’ve to do
my work, I’ll start to wander around my
room, open my cupboard and start to find things
to declutter or I’ll scroll through my folders
to delete unwanted files and emails. I mean
this action is needed but that’s not my
priority for the time being.
And I wasted a lot of time during the process
of decluttering, finding things to delcutter.
Equally as bad as hoarding, over decluttering
can take up quite a chunk of our time, energy
and even money. For example declutter a pen
from your working desk, just because it looks
disorganized and messy, but only to find ourselves
buying a new one when we need it.
Of course, for you, it might not be as minute
as a pen. Honestly, I haven’t decluttered
anything that I regret about. But I did remove
stuff that later on I realized that could
be a good prop for my videos but I’ve already
decluttered it. It’s nothing major that
affects me, because i can always replace it
with something I already have, and I can live
without it.
Like what Joshua becker said: less doesn’t
mean none.
The benefits of decluttering your place gives
you the freedom of owning less stuff and not
owning nothing. Because we do require a certain
amount of possession to live. And the fact
that our definition of less and minimalism
can differ from everyone else, makes it hard
to tell you what’s right and what’s wrong
to declutter.
But the fun part is we can judge it by ourselves.
I have some tips that you can use to judge
if you should keep it or declutter it.
And this is gonna be weird because it’s
the first time I'm asking you to keep stuff
instead of decluttering them.
First, is the Money Generator. It’s a pretty
straight forward point. If ithis a thing that
helps you with your job, work or business.
It’s a tool that generates money. It’s
definitely something that is to be kept. No
matter how annoyed i’m with too many tripods
and stands, they are essential tools I need
to create videos on this channel, and that’s
the reason why they have to stay.
Define your regular basis.
We don’t always use all of our possessions
on a regular basis, and that doesn’t mean
that they don’t bring us value. This works
really well if you live in a country with
4 seasons, and have to shuffle between winter
and summer wardrobe. When it comes to keeping
stuff we can give ourselves a time frame.
And a good example will be the 90/90 rule,
declutter only if you haven't used it for
the past 90 days and also won't be using it
for the next 90 days. It doesn't have to be
90 days. Define your own regular basis by
setting a time frame that is suitable for
you and be honest with it.
Next, Price and accessibility matter.
The thing you want to declutter is costly
and not easy to attain, do take some time
to decide what’s the best way to deal with
it.
If the thing is broken, does it cost you more
to store it and fix it than it would be to
buy a new one?
If you don’t use them frequently, is it
possible for you to borrow it from someone
instead of owning one yourself?
If we know we can sell it for a good price.
We need to have some patience and keep it
for the time being, of course in a situation
where it's not causing any discomfort or costing
way more than selling it.
Lastly, remind ourselves, why minimalism?
Why do we want a minimalist lifestyle? Why
are we decluttering?
We have to be aware that decluttering is a
trend too. Whether it is good or bad, that
depends on how we execute it and how purposeful
we are with this challenge. If it’s solely
for the satisfaction of decluttering, we will
still end up going back to the store to buy
what we don’t need due to impulse and declutter
it a few months later and the cycle just continues.
If minimalism is the end goal, this will be
it: Nothingness and void
But i don’t think that’s the kind of minimalism
anybody wants, neither is over decluttering.
Decluttering for the sake of being a minimalist,
that might be deprivation.
If we see decluttering as a hobby that makes
minimalism an obsession.
However, If you still enjoy the process of
decluttering and you have nothing left to
declutter, you can always help others to declutter
their stuff, IF they ask for it.
We should see minimalism as a law of equivalent
exchange.
To obtain, something of equal value must be
lost.
I got that reference from Fullmetal Alchemist
(Anime) by the way.
We don’t declutter things without an objective.
We chose to have less in order to have more
of something. The purpose of us decluttering
shouldn’t be just the satisfaction of decluttering,
or the high of decluttering things. The end
goal of decluttering is not counting how many
things you have decluttered but what you gain
from letting go. Identify the purpose. We
remove stuff in order to find freedom.
The time used for cleaning things.
The mental energy used to worry about things.
The money spent on maintaining things.
Or the space used to hold things.
And these are the resources we received from
decluttering. How intentionally you are depends
on how you use those resources. It can be
the time used on your family, hobby, or self.
That’s my purpose. What’s the purpose
of you decluttering? Let me know down at the
comment section below. I hope you guys enjoyed
what I have for you guys today. And If you
are new here, do stay a bit longer to check
out my other videos on minimalism.
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I’m extremely grateful for all of these
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this and I'll see you again next week!
