Decluttering: Learn How to Declutter Your Home & Mind, Organize Your Clutter-Free Dream House and Master the Minimalist Way of Living, Making Room for the Life You Truly Desire.

Decluttering

Learn How to Declutter Your Home & Mind, Organize Your Clutter-Free Dream House and Master the Minimalist Way of Living, Making Room for the Life You Truly Desire.

Sylvie Martel

Copyright ©️ 2023 by Sylvie Martel

All rights reserved.

It is not legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Contents

Introduction

1.Basics of Decluttering

2.Mental Clutter

3.Decluttering Your Home

4.Your Digital Life Needs Decluttering

5.Mastering the Minimalist Way of Living

6.Maintenance After Decluttering

Afterword

Introduction

"D ecluttering is a job that should be done regularly – but, of course, most of us don't have the time to rationalize and reorganize our drawers, cluttered corners, and over-stuffed rooms that often. In fact, for many of us, it's a once-a-year, post-Christmas event ." – Lucy Searle.

The human mind resembles a sponge in so many ways. It assimilates everything surrounding it in one way or another, consciously or unconsciously. This phenomenon can be a vice or a virtue depending on many things. If you live in an idyllic environment, the mind absorbs it, which will, in turn, affect your mind, mood, mental health, deeper emotions, and even productivity. In no other context is this scenario more relevant than in the question of how you organize your home and workspace. The more obvious conversation in this context is, of course, clutter. Research shows that the environment we live in has a significant impact on our emotions and mental health. Said differently, clutter can come in your way, stress you out, and make you feel uncomfortable in your own home.

A recent study on homeowners reveals some mindblowing details. Up to 44% of homeowners experience some type of mess-related stress at least once every week. 72% of people who describe themselves as tidy have reported some form of stress brought about by clutter around the home. What's more, clutter makes your space look cheap. Hours, days, weeks, and months go by in everyone's lives easily. Most of us don't even notice as time passes, but in a house, time doesn't pass in vain. Even the tiniest fraction of time leaves behind evidence. If you aren't vigilant enough, things will accumulate sooner or later.

Tell me, have you ever cleaned your home madly only to find clutter piling up again too soon? Why does this happen to so many of us? Why is this scenario so familiar? The idea of tidying up sounds like a simple thing. I mean, isn't it just about moving things from one place to the next? It's simply putting away things where they belong. Even a five-year-old child should be able to do it, right? Then why can't most people do it? I'll tell you this; this isn't about you not having the right skills. We all have the necessary skills to arrange our space and tidy up. The problem is our lack of awareness and an inability to make this necessary life skill a habit.

Simply put, the problem is in our minds. Success, in whichever area of our lives, is 95% dependent on our mindset. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule; we must exclude the gifted among us, those fortunate among us to whom tidiness comes easily and naturally. If we don't talk about mindset, then rebound will inevitably happen. It won't matter how often you tidy up or how cleverly you organize; if you don't start from the root, you'll do this again, sooner or later.

Again, some of us can never bring ourselves to tidy up, no matter how motivated we are, simply because of the many obstacles associated with it. Some people are sentimental, others love to procrastinate, and some are obsessed with multitasking and overcomplicating, among other things. When you are a sentimental person, you look at the sentimental value of things – something passed down from your grandma or a gift given by a long-gone friend. There's so much nostalgia; you can't let it go. You see value in all things, which is, in many ways, a good thing. The problem comes in when these things start to overwhelm you, threatening to choke the life out of you. When you finally decide to cut back and reduce the baggage, you get stuck and give up quickly because you simply can't let go.

Experts argue that there's always a train of thought preceding every action. Indeed, many dismiss this idea by focusing only on external factors. But you need to understand that when you look at a cluttered home, you are witnessing the consequences of a given action and not the root cause of the problem. Consequences indeed play a significant part – aren't they the ones that sounded an alarm in the first place? Still, they aren't the underlying issue. We will only find this underlying problem when we analyze our deeper issues and look at where the connection to these external factors is. If you want to regain control of your home, you must backtrack a few steps and understand what's what.

So, how and where do you start? What's the most effective decluttering strategy for you? You'll find those answers and many more right here in this book. I'm writing this book to help you and others like you worldwide. I'm passionate about this subject because I've been there. There was a