We all know the feeling. You look around your home and see stuff everywhere. It feels crowded and cluttered. Maybe you should upgrade to a bigger house?
But here’s a different thought. What if the real solution is fewer things?
Homes have gotten bigger over the decades, and yet self-storage keeps growing. It seems no matter how much space we have, we keep wanting more. And no matter how much stuff we buy, we keep wanting to keep it all.
If you’re a reader of Debt Free Forties, you already know that one of the biggest budget items is housing. It’s easy to see that there’s an opportunity cost to constantly upgrading to a bigger home, especially when you factor in the cost of buying more stuff to fill it.
In light of this, we shouldn’t default to bigger homes or more stuff. The easy decision isn’t always the best one. Here is the simple case: the primary reason many people feel their homes are crowded is because they have too many things. The answer isn’t more space, but fewer items.
Even if your goal isn’t to become a minimalist, decluttering is something everyone can do to make their home feel bigger and more usable, without moving to a bigger house. Here’s a simple four-step plan to get you started:
- Pay attention to what is taking up space. Spend a week noticing what types of things are cluttering your home. Is it boxes of storage items? Old furniture you no longer use? Piles of clothes on chairs?
- Pick a place to start. By now, you should have a good sense of what you’re up against. Start with a small but meaningful area you can tackle in one sitting. Maybe a cluttered hallway closet or an unused drawer in the kitchen.
- Decide what to keep and what to remove. Most of us are tempted to keep things “just in case.” Try taking the opposite approach and only keeping what you know to be useful or meaningful.
- Create a plan for new items. The key to keeping clutter out is to plan for each new item you bring in. Ask yourself where it will go and what it will replace. Or adopt a one-in, one-out rule.
Spend a little time today using the steps above. It’s ok to start small and build confidence for bigger projects later. Remember, you don’t need a bigger house. You need fewer things.