3 Easy Ways to Live a Clutter-Free Life

Have you ever thought why people with minimalist lifestyle are also the happiest people on earth? The answer may be that there is something about minimalism that makes you happy. The big perk of minimalism is clutter-free life.

While clutter-free life doesn’t necessarily mean you have to embrace a minimalistic lifestyle, de-cluttering your life will help you to live an easier and more organized lifestyle.

Research has shown that clutter can negatively affect your productivity, increase stress, and decrease your mood.

If you want to be more productive and efficient in your work, the first thing you have to do is to make sure you get rid of physical clutter in your life.

Clutter is all around us. It can be in your office, your kitchen, or your bedroom. But here is the thing — living a clutter-free life is easier than you think. It only requires you to take three simple steps.

1. Avoid clutter in the first place

A very easy way to avoid clutter is not to let it build up in the first place. One of the ways to do that is to refrain from buying stuff you don’t need.

Too many people buy gadgets and gizmos because they give in to their impulses. It’s hard to resist when something is on sale, and we can’t push ourselves back from buying it.

To avoid this temptation, before you buy something — anything — ask yourself a few questions: 1. Do I already own it? 2. What value would it serve me? 3. How happy will I be from owning it? 4. Do I have space in my house to keep it?

It doesn’t matter if you purchased an item at 50% or 75% off its original value. If your answers to those questions didn’t meet your needs, then it’s not worth buying something just for the sake of owning it.

2. Get rid of things you don’t need

To get rid of unwanted stuff, you can do it systematically. Tackle one room at a time, say your bedroom.

The best place to start is your closet. You may have too much clothing laying around that has no value and taking up your closet space. Sometimes we hold a psychological attachment to our clothing, but you have to ask yourself: What is more important to you: your well-being or your clothing?

I used to cling to pieces of clothing I wore in my early twenties. I don’t fit into any of them now. The reason I didn’t get rid of them in the first place, as I later realized, was because of my psychological attachment to them. Some items evoked sweet memories; others were fancy and beautiful looking. I just couldn’t bring myself to get rid of them.

To break the cycle of attachment, I put them all away in one bag to come back to it in a few months. If I didn’t need to wear them, they didn’t belong in my closet. Out they went into the donation box.

You can do the same — put away all the clothing you no longer wear in a bag and give it a test of time. If you find it no longer useful after a while, bring it for donation. You’ll feel so much better about decluttering your closet and helping someone in need at the same time.

Use the same approach with all the other things you find in your house that serve you no purpose. If something has no value for you, don’t keep it just because you’re too sad to part ways with it.

3. Find a home for things you use

Look around your house and see what things add to clutter. You may see magazines with no place to put or a bunch of mail sitting around.

Find a cluttered corner and think about ways you can de-clutter it. Pay special attention to your workspace. Maybe you can organize things in Tupperware containers. Arrange stuff on bookshelves with boxes and labels.

Then take a peek into your drawers and see how you can organize them better. Get rid of all the junk that’s taking up your space. Find a home for everything you use.

It’ll save you tons of time not having to muddle through a pile of papers to find what you’re looking for or to rummage through your drawers looking for a brush or a shaver.

When you know where every single thing goes, not only you’ll breathe better, but you’ll live better too. You’ll achieve peace of mind from having a clean and organized living space.

It took me a few years to see how clutter affects my emotional state. I realized that holding onto things isn’t worth it anymore. Clutter only makes our already stressful lives more chaotic. Because after all, your psychological well-being is more important.

Getting rid of clutter requires discipline and willingness to embrace a change. That change starts with you. Start taking the necessary steps towards a clutter-free life. Your life will reward you with happiness, and you’ll be on the path to a more fulfilling lifestyle.