If I tell you about the benefits of decluttering, you’ll probably tell me that it makes your home visually lighter, that you feel more serene, that you see things more clearly and that you spend less time tidying and cleaning.

It’s absolutely true!

But if you think beyond the physical, concrete benefits, there are also unsuspected benefits:

1 – DECLUTTERING IS THE ABILITY TO MAKE A DECISION THAT’S GOOD FOR YOU.
If you’re familiar with Marie Kondo’s method (Life Changing Magic Of Tidying), you’ll know that when sorting, each item must be inspected with awareness. It’s not a question of sorting in a hurry, but of asking ourselves whether we use this object regularly and whether it brings us joy.

The second part is the most abstract, yet it’s the essential part of sorting. How do we know if an object brings us joy? Well, hold it in your hands. What emotion comes out of it? Is that emotion linked to a memory, or is it simply the beauty, the features, the design, the fact that it’s something you’ve chosen with care and still love deeply?

The whole point of KonMari sorting is to feel at home, with objects that you feel aligned with, that have a profound purpose and/or bring you joy.

What’s special about Marie Kondo’s method isn’t so much the sorting by category – that’s something you find just about everywhere these days – it’s above all the thought that goes into the categories: she has chosen a specific order for sorting, and it’s not by chance.

She proposes a method that allows us to start with categories that are easy to sort (where this famous decision-making process is fairly straightforward) and ends with the most difficult categories to sort: the sentimental ones.

The reason she chose this order is not to put off sorting these items: it’s because our brains are trained to make decisions by going through all the previous categories. And once we’ve arrived at the sentimental objects, our brain is sufficiently trained to choose without too much hesitation.

Sorting means choosing something because it gives us something positive, not because it’s attached to someone, to a memory, to the past.

2 – IT’S ALSO A WAY OF LEARNING TO SAY “NO”.
When we choose what to do with an object, we can choose to keep it (for good reasons) or to part with it. Decluttering means learning to let go of certain objects, and beginning to learn how to say “no” in order to preserve them. It’s also a form of letting go. We say “no” to one object to better say “yes” to another. In this way, we learn to say “no” to certain things in our lives and “yes” to others.

3 – FREEING OURSELVES FROM THE PAST TO FOCUS ON THE FUTURE
Letting go of certain objects means saying “goodbye” to them and, above all, saying “goodbye” to the memories associated with them. It’s about freeing ourselves from our past, to focus on what’s to come. In Marie Kondo’s books, she recommends taking the time to imagine the interior of our dreams. This image of our uncluttered home, decorated according to our tastes, is an excellent source of motivation throughout the sorting process. And it’s focusing on this image of our future that enables us to free ourselves from our past.

The past is behind us, it forged us, it carried us. But we don’t need to keep “trophies”, vestiges of a time that no longer exists. Sorting means freeing ourselves from the weight of the past.

Does this speak to you? Have you already experienced these benefits?