3 Steps I Took to Gradually Declutter My Overcrowded Room
■ Introduction: Before I knew it, both my room and my mind were overflowing
Even now that I call myself a minimalist,
I get a little shiver when I think about my old room.
My closet was packed tight with clothes I didn't wear,
and my bookshelf was lined with several shelves of books I would never read again.
My desk was also cluttered with mail, documents, and mysterious cables,
and while I kept thinking, "I need to clean this up,"
I ended up leaving it as it was day after day.
When your room is messy,
strangely enough, your mind doesn't feel settled either.
Feeling vaguely uneasy
Unable to get work off my mind
Not feeling like I truly rested even on my days off
That state of mind had become my new normal.
That was when I encountered the idea that,
"If you want to clear your mind, it's faster to organize your room first."
From there, I started cleaning up little by little,
which led to the "life with fewer possessions" I have today.
Today, I'd like to look back and summarize the
3 steps I took to gradually declutter my room.
■ STEP 1: I started by letting go of books
The first place I tackled was my bookshelf.
The reason was simple:
"Despite having so many, I almost never re-read them."
Books from my student days were still there,
and some even brought back feelings of "I need to study" just by looking at their spines.
So, the first things I did were the following three:
Pick out the books I want to read again in the future
List books that were fine after one read on Mercari
Put books I'm unsure about into a "pending box"
Trying to decide on everything at once is exhausting, so
I first let go of only the things I clearly wouldn't read anymore.
When I sold them on Mercari,
I felt like
“I not only cleared up space on my bookshelf, but I also got money back,” which felt even more refreshing than I had imagined.
From then on,
I kept the number of physical books I buy to a minimum, and
now I basically use e-books (Kindle) instead.
Letting go of books
・Room space
・Ease of moving
・Ease of cleaning
had a major impact on these three things.
■ STEP 2: Reduced the “just-in-case” clothes in my closet
The next thing I tackled was my closet.
My old closet was like this:
I had many shirts that were all similar
I kept clothes that didn't quite fit, thinking “I'll wear them when I lose weight”
I had many clothes I bought on sale but rarely wore
It felt like even though it was packed, I always wore the same clothes.
So, I tried
sorting them by “whether I actually wore them in the last year”
as a method.
I took all my clothes out onto the floor and
wore often in the last year
wore occasionally
never wore
When I sorted them into these three categories,
there were more “never worn” clothes than I had imagined.
Many of the clothes I had never worn were,
Because it was cheap on sale
Bought it on a whim to try something new, but it didn't suit me
Bought it because someone recommended it
These were all "purchases based on others' standards."
From there,
things that don't fit
things that don't make me feel good when I wear them
things that are too much trouble to maintain
were let go.
And what I kept in my closet were only clothes that are:
suited to my body type
comfortable to wear
easy to mix and match
.
As a result, I moved closer to the idea that "10 items are enough," and choosing clothes in the morning became truly easy.
Choosing clothes in the morning became truly easy.
■ STEP 3: Decluttering the desk area and "mental clutter"
Once my books and clothes were organized, what started to bother me was the
desk area.
My desk at the time had:
a large amount of unused pens
piles of mail with no idea when they arrived
Cables and gadgets were scattered everywhere
That was the state of things.
What I kept in mind here was
the rule of "keeping only what I currently use close at hand."
a rule.
The notebook and pen I use often
My PC and mouse
Essential gadgets
I left only these on my desk, and
I took the plunge and moved everything else elsewhere.
It's strange, but
when the desk is tidy, my mind feels calmer too.
By making it a habit to write down what I need to do in a notebook,
the feeling of "carrying my thoughts around with me all the time" decreased.
Tidying up,
I realized at this time that it's not just about things, but also connected to "organizing my thoughts."
■ Things I kept in mind to tidy up little by little
Reading this far,
you might think, "It's amazing that you tidied it all up at once," but
in reality, it wasn't that smart.
Books → Clothes → Desk, and
one place at a time, in several sessions I felt like I was making progress.
At that time, I kept the following three things in mind.
1. Decide on a scope, saying "Just this much today"
If you try to tidy up the whole room,
you will almost certainly get tired halfway through.
So,
"Just this shelf on the bookcase today"
"Just T-shirts today"
like that,I tried to narrow it down to a small area.
2. Don't aim for perfection
When you read decluttering books,
the before-and-after photos are so impressive that
you might feel like, "I could never do that."
But since you are the one actually living there,
using "whether it makes my life easier" as your only standard
is just about right.
3. Think of the things you let go of as "being useful to someone else"
Once I started being able to sell things on Mercari,
the guilt of letting things go decreased significantly.
Thinking, "I don't need this anymore, but
someone somewhere might actually use it"
makes it a little easier
to say goodbye to your belongings.
■ After reducing my belongings, my mindset toward my heart and money also changed
Books, clothes, and my desk area.
As a result of decluttering these three main areas,
the impression of my room changed quite a bit.
The time spent looking for lost items decreased
Getting ready in the morning became easier
Just being in the room feels a bit more calming
And through decluttering,
my awareness of how I spend money and how I workalso changed.
Instead of "buying it just in case,"
"choosing only what I truly need."
This is also connected to the content
I have written about in articles on saving money and side hustles.
I feel that decluttering a room
is not just the task of reducing items,
but also a time to think about how you want to live from now on.
■ Conclusion: You don't have to do all your decluttering at once
If there is anyone reading this article right now who thinks,
I want to declutter my room, but I don't know where to start
Even if I read a decluttering book, I get tired before I even start
then I recommend starting with
"just one spot" or "just 10 minutes."at a time.
It is okay if you do not make everything perfect.
I believe it is enough if you feel that things have become a little easier for you.
Whether it is a bookshelf, a closet, or the top of your desk.
Starting from the area you can manage today,
let us organize it little by little together.