7 Mistakes to Avoid When Decluttering

7 Mistakes to Avoid When Decluttering

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The number of people who have difficulty throwing away

👉 Throwing away can be a complicated situation for many people.

There are 5 % of the population suffering from Diogenes syndrome (disease that prevents throwing)1. According to artificial intelligence, 15 to 30 % of the population without serious illness have difficulty throwing.

Throwing away is essential!

👉 However, throwing away is essential for example:

Save space and accessibility
Reduce stress and anxiety
Reduce cleaning time

In this case. Why do people tend to keep the less useful objects rather than throwing them away? 🤨

7 mistakes when trying to declutter

Here are 7 mistakes to avoid when you want to declutter. In order to have a healthier and simpler environment 😊

1 – Emotional bond

When we are afraid to throw away, one of the main reasons is the emotional connection with the object.

Indeed, every object we own brings us emotions.

👉 If an object creates a strong feeling of happiness, I am the first to advise keeping the object. 🔺

However, a majority of the objects we own inspire in us a bland or negative feeling.

Actually, if we are not minimalists.

Most of the things we own leave us feeling bland or negative.

🔺If this is the case and we see that the use is very limited. Do not hesitate to throw away ❗

For example, I can understand if a person keeps the CD of his music group. Because the sentimental connection and the memories are very strong.

But what's the point of keeping another band's CD? The connection you have with that band will become bland! If the goal is only to listen to their music. Just listen by streaming for example.

In reality, their CD is no longer a necessity and has become cumbersome.

Tip 🔺 Marie Kondo's advice, a tidying expert. It's to touch each object and feel the feeling of what the object gives off.

2 – “Just in case”

Human beings tend to store objects for the “in case”.

🔺**The problem is that ”in case” happens very rarely!**

Most often, it is because of keeping objects for the "in caseWe find ourselves with a lot of bulky objects in our house.

We all know it. Every bulky object means wasted time and cleaning.

And even worse, the few times we need an object. We never know where the object is in the middle of the accumulated mess 🤨

3 – The high purchase price

Some people keep unused items just because of their high purchase price.

This is a mistake for 3 reasons.

In most cases, the value of an object continues to decrease over time. In fact, we tend to overestimate the real price of our possessions.
The space taken by the unused object could be replaced by a useful object.
This item brings dust into the home, which means more cleaning

4 – Throwing away is a shame

Some people think that throwing things away is a shame because of the misery in the world and the pollution.

Ironically, I think it's the opposite that's a shame.

🔺 In my opinion, keeping an unused item when other people need it is a shame. In reality, there is nothing to stop you from selling the little-used item for a small price. Or why not give the item away.

It is probably better to give a useless object to someone than to leave the object lying around in a corner of the house!

5 – One day I will fix it

You can quickly feel like a handyman when you have to throw away an object!

For example, we notice that our headphones no longer work. One of the first ideas is "I keep the object because one day I will try to repair it”.

Obviously, that day never comes. 🤨

The reality is, almost no one wants to waste hours trying to fix $10 headphones.

In the meantime, the unusable headphones are lying around in the drawer. Plus, they're gathering dust.

6 – We are too creative

It's crazy how creative you can be when you have to throw away an object. ❗

For example, we see an old cracked plate in our cellar. We know that this plate is no longer usable for food, because it is cracked.

But suddenly we have a great idea.

”And if I keep the plate for my flower pots"”

A few months later, the flower pots were simply never purchased. Because we are not passionate about gardening 😶

3 years later, we finally bought a flower pot. We tell ourselves that we did well to keep the old plate in the cellar. We take the plate but … darn. The plate is not the right size for the flower pot.

As a result, we put the plate back in the cellar for a ”possible future flower pot which will eventually be adaptable to the cracked plate which has been lying around in the cellar for 3 years”.

7 – Visualize our possessions

When I was a maximalist and I did a big sort out in my room. I was shocked at the amount of stuff I had double, even triple!

⚠️ I realized that if you are not a minimalist, you tend to buy the same items twice because you forget that you already have certain possessions ❗

For example, when I cleaned my room, I had 4 scissors! Plus, they were lying around in 4 different places in my room!

👉 So that you understand my stupidity, in this example I made the following mistakes:

Buying 3 scissors too many, so I spent 3 times more money than necessary
Never knowing exactly where to look for a chisel in my room, even though I had 4
Have 4 items for exactly the same utility

And the worst part is that I only needed one pair of scissors to use it for 5 minutes. 2 to 3 times a year at most 😶

In reality, I spent more time searching for 1 of 4 scissors in my room than cutting the few sheets I needed 🤨

Conclusion

The 7 mistakes to avoid when decluttering are:

Keeping an item with a bland or negative emotional connection
Not realizing that keeping an item “just in case” is rarely useful
Keeping an item because of the high purchase price
Do not throw away because of the misery of the world
Wanting to repair defective items and never doing so
Getting creative when it comes to throwing away an object
Not being aware of all one's possessions

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Overall, this blog lives on sharing a frugal and minimalist lifestyle.

For a question of transparency towards the readers. All recommended products are in order to make life cheaper, simpler and to promote the essentials.

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I decided to create this blog to develop and help readers who are looking for a simpler and more economical life.

Compared to before, I was a person who consumed a lot until the day I realized that my consumption made me sadder and poorer 😑

Now I prefer the minimum of my needs to be happy and achieve my financial freedom.

Without realizingI started to focus on saving and investing to depend on a boss for as little time as possible and to speed up my personal projects.

For several years I have felt happy and I have become richer in a way that I would never have imagined given that I have an average salary in Switzerland.

It is for this purpose that I decided to create this blog. In order to share and learn with other people who seek freedom and simplicity 😉

Are you rather minimalist or frugal Jonny?

I am as minimalist as I am frugalist. However, there are situations where I lean more towards an art of life.

To conclude, I think the most important thing is to feel comfortable in your lifestyle 😊

7 mistakes to avoid when decluttering.

Minimalism and Frugalism

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