What are some of the benefits you have found as a result of "uncluttering"?

Unclutterer ForumsWelcomeHello!

What are some of the benefits you have found as a result of "uncluttering"?

(113 posts) (52 voices)

Started 2 years ago by themusiclivez
Latest reply from bandicoot
RSS feed for this topic

Overall Rating: 2 votes

Tags:

« Previous 1…345 6 Next »

lazycow
Member

I'm going away for a long weekend with my sister in a few minutes and it took me all of 5 minutes to pack (less clothes, know where everything is, laundry up to date), kitchen was cleaned up, kids' school bags, lunchboxes and swimming gear organised (now they have a place to put everything and know where to find their things), husband not yelling at me for being disorganised, and beds all made. It's a wonderful feeling.

Of course, my sister lives like this all the time. It's just taken me 43 years to catch up to her standards :-) Some of us are born with it, some have to work VERY hard to become clutter free!

Posted 1 year ago #
bandicoot
Member

lazycow, that sounds wonderful.
fast packing is a skill that i am still honing.
i hope you guys have a fabulous weekend!

Posted 1 year ago #
ninakk
Member

Hmm, good question. Very good one actually! My life is more complex than it's ever been before, but by incorporating lots and lots of routines into the everyday I actually find myself more at peace with everything than I've ever felt before. Turns out the complexity (when it comes to my level of organization) is actually working against entropy...

I've made an in-depth analysis of the behaviours in our home and have delegated certain tasks to my husband, whereas I've taken other ones for myself to get done. Alongside with making a budget for us, I've also taken a look at our shopping behaviour and now we do the main grocery shopping on Saturdays, whereas some fresh stuff and possible necessities are bought on Tuesdays. This has had a positive effect on the bank account and so we're very happy.

My parents got me an all-in-one scanner thingy, which already has been used a lot. There's still an insane amount of miscellaneous stuff to deal with, but I'm finally on my way towards less "information and idea clutter". Recently we've received some bills through the mail and I'll get them changed to electronic ones.

I guess I'm aware now. And there's no turning back ever again, not that I'd want to either.

Posted 1 year ago #
lottielot
Member

Charmed: re the post about helping your friends declutter, my friend came over the other day and helped me clean out my son's room. We had a good chat, I was grateful, she felt useful (she likes to keep very busy and hates only talking) and we were both happy. I wouldn't want all my friends to be like that, however it was a nice thing to do and I felt happy for her to do it. I've also done something similar for a friend whose house is a real tip, another friend and I went over and cleaned her kitchen and bathroom for her, she was pregnant with a toddler and feeling overwhelmed. I think friends should have cleaning parties more often :)

Posted 1 year ago #
pkilmain
Member

@lottielot - I did the same with my sister when I visited her for a week. She had a real mess, and her biggest issue was where to start. I can't say for certain she kept it up, esp since she has sinced moved in with her BF, so it's either better (i.e. he helps keep things up) or back to the way it was..... I haven't visited them since - they live on the other side of the country.

Posted 1 year ago #
bandicoot
Member

i can list a benefit i discovered today.
long story short, our kitchen began to flood today, when it began to rain.
we are well into a building project and this is what caused it.
it was quite a lot of flooding and we had to keep it contained in the kitchen or it would have simply kept going until it filled the whole house.

we called the builder and then were able to strip all items of our kitchen floor (bin, cat bowls, wicker baskets with plastic and glass containers) and roll back cabinets (that i designed on industrial castor wheels) and get everything mopped and dried with about one millionth of the fuss we would have had prior to decluttering and renovating.

the builder has fixed the problem, the rain has abated and i am waiting for the floor to dry before i roll everything back.
it will take five minutes and i'll be ready to cook dinner.
and the whole kitchen has had a good rinse, lol.

Posted 1 year ago #
AntonioM
Member

I have been decluttering my small cramped basement (8 pickup truck loads of stuff). Whoa, now it's not so cramped! My wife walks into the cleared out and organized rooms, dances around and exclaims, "It't like having a new addition!" Reclaiming the space gives me the room for my Tie-Dye, Beer Brewing, proper storage of our medieval garb (We belong to the SCA http://www.sca.org) so we can now find it, and a room for crafts/projects. It is an amazing feeling to walk into these spaces and not feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff! Even tho' the basment is old (early 1900's home) and dark, my kids have commented it doesn't feel like a dungeon any more.
Oh wait, now what do I threaten them with?
Me: "Off to the dungeon with you!",
Daughter: "Ok dad, I'll be down there sewing.",
Me: "Dang!"

Seriously, the peaceful feeling of an organized and uncluttered room is worth it.

Posted 1 year ago #
lottielot
Member

One thing I've learned: it's easier to clean the toilet occasionally if you don't have to trip over a barbecue and a suitcase to do so :)

Posted 1 year ago #
pkilmain
Member

LOL lottielot! I still laugh at the barbeque in the bath!

Posted 1 year ago #
chacha1
Member

Wow Antonio, 8 truckloads! That is some serious decluttering! Want to come over and help my DH with our home office?? LOL

Posted 1 year ago #
susique
Member

without a doubt i purchase fewer items that are noncomsumable (is that even a word?). that is a great benefit.

i guess purging is catching on. recently my grandkids were spending the night and noticed a box with donate items (i confess my guest room is my store it til it goes out the door room). they asked about them and volunteered a great train set from their toy closet. great kids! neat they are learning at a young age.

Posted 1 year ago #
lottielot
Member

My kids actually helped clean the kitchen yesterday! I was buffing up my nice uncluttered surfaces and they were desperate to join in and make the kitchen 'all sparkly' :) I did tell them they may have a new chore to do...

Posted 1 year ago #
Webster
Member

I like the fact that I have more time for what truly matters

Read more on the subject here

Posted 1 month ago #
Swede
Member

I can't let the spammers win here... So my benefit to add to the list: My taxes took FIFTEEN minutes from opening the mail to getting all the necessary paperwork needed to actually finishing it. 15 minutes! YAY!

Posted 1 month ago #
ninakk
Member

Yeah, Webster, go away.

Funny how things have improved since my previous comment. I do treat information as something much less holy these days and feel like my mindset has gone from "let's clean this" to "let's see whether I should get rid of it before cleaning". A year can do miracles. Sad that so many of those who replied aren't around anymore, though.

Posted 1 month ago #
bandicoot
Member

i have become even more selective and decluttered since last posting in this thread.
it is an ongoing trip.
getting the junk out has made everything so much better/simpler/easier.

Posted 1 month ago #
lottielot
Member

Omg! I'd completely forgotten about the barbecue in the bathroom! I guess I have made a lot of progress after all, though the clutter culprit is still him, unfortunately!

Posted 1 month ago #
bandicoot
Member

bbq in the bathroom?
that is awesome!

mine is currently keeping a compound bow and a heap of hunting arrows all over the living room.
i have no idea what he is hunting. he cannot kill mice with any conviction. he doesn't kill things and we don't need meat.
the yard is set up with a complicated system of targets on humoungous hay bales, but i don't notice much target practice going on.
i wish the bow and paraphenalia would move to the shed.

Posted 1 month ago #
djk
Member

*wipes tears from eyes*
BBQs in the bathroom, the near-vegan with compound bows, I'm dying over here.
We've talked about decluttering the fantasy self. Our partners have their own fantasy selves too. Mine is a French philosopher in a beret with Pétanque balls which I've hidden behind the couch. He also rolls his own cigarettes--except he doesn't smoke anymore.

Posted 1 month ago #
Lyerin
Member

I definitely find that it is easier to tidy up/clean now that there is less stuff in the way. My mom came to stay this weekend, and I did some cleaning before she came (bathrooms and kitchen), but I didn't have to take hours and scrub stuff or frantically put it away. All of the doors to the rooms in our house can stay open too, which is very nice. I don't have to keep the home office door closed to hide the piles of stuff.

Posted 1 month ago #

« Previous 1…345 6 Next »

Reply »

You must log in to post. If you do not already have an account, you can register here.