The benefits of decluttering by space rather than category!
It’s taken me a lot longer than I intended to get round to choosing a subject for my first ever attempt at writing a blog, so please do bare with me as I’m a complete newbie at this!
As my decluttering & organising business is still in the very early stages in many ways, I have been waiting & waiting…….. & WAITING for ‘the right moment’ to get typing because of every excuse I could possibly think of - but today is different. Today I have decided to just stop thinking about it and start doing it which is actually quite similar in a way, to what I’ll be suggesting you do by the end of this blog I suspect.
So - What are the benefits of decluttering by ‘space’ rather than by ‘category’ ?
To start with I think it’s worth going over exactly what the difference is between the two so that we’re all on the same page - although please feel free to skip to the next paragraph if you already know what I’m about to say! - Decluttering by category is simply going through - for example, all your clothes, and deciding what to keep / give away / sell etc. Or all your pots and pans for cooking, or all your cleaning products or toiletries - I think you get the gist here! Basically doing it this way might mean that you are going from room to room depending on the category of stuff you’re working on. In contrast, decluttering by space is to focus your attention and efforts on a particular shelf or room or wardrobe rather than a certain group of belongings. I guess by working on a particular space in this way you could say that you are going through all that spaces ‘categories’ at once, rather than just one or some of them. Therefore once you’re finished, that entire space should be fully decluttered ready for the next step which is usually going to be organising.
So, getting back to the topic in question, I think one of the biggest benefits to focusing on spaces rather than categories is that it simply gives you a clear place to start and finish. Rather than going through the entire households clothing, draw by draw, room by room and getting to the end of the process only to feel as if you can’t actually see much of a difference and therefore feeling a bit like you haven’t actually finished at all, you work your way methodically through one space and once it’s done you get to see the finished result. In essence working through one space at a time can feel much less overwhelming, especially in situations where there is a large amount of belongings to go through, because you can clearly see the target area and this means its easier to stay focused. Undine Almani references some good points about the space method in her blog which you can have a read through here -https://undinealmani.com/decluttering-without-categories/
The second advantage of the space method is that in general (I do mean in general, some situations may differ to this) but in general, working by space is actually less messy. By this I mean simply that having a smaller or at least a specific area to focus on often means you don’t end up with the inevitable messy and somewhat overwhelming stage that working on categories often results in. Rather than going about the house and gathering groups of items together in order to sort through them, you are able to pick an item off the shelf (for example) and make a decision there and then about where that item is going next. I usually have a bin bag, a recycling bag and a charity shop bag at the ready when I’m working on a space so that I can put things where they need to go straight away.
Finally, I often find working by space to be a more relaxed and rewarding experience. You can pace yourself better when you’re able to see clearly what you have to work through. Often when working on categories you end up finding more than you expected of some things and less of others and this can throw you off course time wise or distract you as you work. With spaces once you’ve gone through everything you will usually find you can give the area a good wipe down and/or dust (if needed) and then immediately start putting back all the things that are going to stay or finding new homes for stuff that didn’t belong in that space. Basically you are more likely to reach the ‘put back stage’ faster and with less confusion by focusing on a space.
So, to summarise, decluttering by space rather than category can be beneficial in the following ways :
Clarity on where to start and finish
Reduces over whelm
Can be less messy during the process
Easier to pace yourself
A more relaxed and rewarding experience
So there we are, my first blog is finally finished. I very much hope that you found this helpful and please do share this with anyone who you think may be feeling overwhelmed with their own decluttering needs. I will be adding more blogs as regularly as possible and if you any specific topics you’d like to hear about feel free to get in touch and make suggestions. Finally, if you are feeling the need to declutter or start getting organised but don’t know where to start or how to find the time get in touch for a chat via the free consultation button at the top of this page.
Thanks for reading and please do come over and follow me on Instagram and/or Facebook for more tips, tricks and pics.
