Decluttering, over the years, has evolved to be a necessary way of living that not only sparks joy within and around you but also makes way for mental peace by simplifying your life. But how do you go about decluttering your home when you are living on a low income?
As someone who spent the initial fifteen years of her life in a 1BHK (as a family of six), I learned it early on how difficult it can be to organize and declutter the home when your home is tiny and the income is low. After all, it isn’t so easy to get rid of the stuff that you bought with money that took years to earn. Besides that, there’s always a dearth of money to buy new stuff in place of the old ones when your family income is low.
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But is it actually practical to declutter your living space on a low income?
Well, it absolutely is.
You just need to be a little mindful of how you go about doing it. You must also get rid of that FOMO by letting go of what’s not needed, and find peace and meaning in the stuff that your home actually needs. And the process can be a lot easier than you think by following a few simple strategies:
1. Separate The Needs From The Wants
Living standards across the world have evolved so much that we often end up confusing many luxuries as necessities. But the truth is that we don’t always need a lot of things to live a happy life.
Ask yourself, how many showpieces does your living room really need? Or how many dresses do you need in your closet? Is your shoe rack housing more pairs of shoes than you actually need?
I remember owning only a couple of jeans and over half a dozen tops until 5 years ago. That was when our family income was low and we had to think twice before allowing something into our little home. And to be honest, I never really complained because I didn’t feel that I needed more. The fact that I was totally comfortable repeating my clothes very often made me feel content with whatever I had. Although this has changed over the years as we shifted to a bigger place and our family income grew, my comfort zone still lies in the same clothes that I wore back then.
Now your needs may vary from mine, and you might need more clothes depending upon how often you go out or how your workplace is or how many events/occasions you attend. The idea here is to decide what your real needs are and staying within those needs to live a minimalist lifestyle.
2. Declutter The Duplicates Mindfully
While a lot of decluttering articles and books suggest that you should get rid of all the duplicates, it’s never a good idea to do so because buying new items won’t be good for your finances if you don’t have duplicates saved up.
Although you don’t really need 10 blankets and 20 pairs of shoes in your house, it doesn’t mean that you should get rid of all the extra ones. Have duplicates for the items that are pricey to be replaced. Decide on a number of duplicates that you should hang on to depending upon the storage space and your possible future requirements.
3. Get A Storage Unit For The Extra Stuff
We hang on to a lot of ‘just in case’ items in our house, and that is what keeps it cluttered most of the time. If there’s extra stuff that you aren’t sure you need, store it all in one place in large capacity storage bags and see if they turn out to be useful in the near future. Wait for a few months to make this extra stuff useful and if there’s anything that didn’t get used during this time, get rid of it.
4. Stop Comparing Yourself With Others
The biggest mistake you can make when trying to declutter on a low income is comparing yourself with people around you and on social media. Remember that your current financial situation and the size of your house would be different from the people you have been comparing yourself with, and things that might be necessary for someone else may not be so important for your family. Hanging on to unneeded stuff will end up cluttering your house more than ever.
Besides that, it’s also important that you stop comparing your decluttering skills to that of your Mom or your neighbour or anyone you think could do it better than you. We are all humans, and it should be deemed alright to take a little more time to declutter your house than what your Mom would take.
5. Keep It Simple And Organized
here’s no point decluttering your home if it isn’t followed by at least a few minutes of organization. Organization helps you become aware of what you own and what you need which prevents you from buying unnecessary stuff and duplicate items.
In order to keep your living space organized, you can buy a few simple storage boxes and baskets depending on your needs while making sure that you don’t buy too much of them.
6. Detach Yourself From Material Things
Living on a low income also means that you find happiness in the little things that you own. You find it hard to let go of that coffee machine which was gifted by your best friend, or that dress you wore when your partner proposed to you. Although material things hold beautiful memories, it’s important to decide when it’s time to let go of them. It will definitely be hard, but letting go will help you appreciate the stuff that is more useful than the rest.
If you still find it hard to part with stuff that you emotionally associate yourself with, give yourself the leverage of keeping only a certain number of items that you really love. This number can be 5 or 10 or 20 depending upon the space in your house and the importance these things hold for you.
Decluttering when you aren’t earning much is hard and can involve a lot of thinking, but what’s more important is to find happiness in the stuff that gives your home a meaning and sparks joy within you.