That box that came with the alarm clock you bought two months ago isn’t going to feel abandoned if you decide to throw it away. Many people, including myself, don’t have the best attachment styles, and that can translate into objects in your life. Which can cause issues with space and clutter. Luckily, you don’t just have to accept the mess and the never ending search for more storage space. Decluttering is your key here, once every few months you go through your clothes, your chests and your junk drawers and make space for the new items you’ll eventually be buying. 

Whether you’re working or learning from home or not, having a clean and open environment to live in has many benefits. Having a clean space can prompt focus, productivity and creativity. Having a clean room or living space can also reduce stress and irritability, for example having a room full of clutter is setting yourself in a sort of box, which can cause irritability and claustrophobia similar to being in the middle of a large crowd. Along with this it can create a buildup in dust and pollen, as well as giving you an environment that promotes unproductivity. If that isn’t interesting to you either, having a clean space also reduces allergens and having cleared off spaces can increase the life of your furniture by years. 

Now I know this may be difficult for some, very difficult for many, and let me tell you my theory on why. Many people have fears that they don’t even realize they have and it follows them around their day to day lives. Many have a subconscious fear of losing everything, so they feel the need to keep everything that they own no matter how unnecessary it is, especially if you grew up in an environment where there were financial issues. But, becoming aware of this is already a step in the right direction, a technique that I personally use when I do my rounds of decluttering is thinking of the time that I’ve already kept the item, and when I ever used it. All of those months I thought that I might need it and I never did, so now it’s time to give it away. Sometimes, you really aren’t sure, in those cases you should keep those items, somewhere where you’ll see them or be in a position to use them, and in a month you still don’t, then the next time you go to declutter, you know it’s time to let them go.