27
Nov, 2012
5 Benefits of a Lighter Load
There are Benefits to simplicity and lightening up!
It is a choice to experience these personal benefits:
1. Balanced Home – Choosing to eliminate some of the things in your home will bring you to a
sense of clarity in your space. When busy-ness comes along in other ways — family
challenges, health issues, or other things that need your attention, you will feel a sense of
peace that the things in your home are not adding to the clutter of life.
2. Appreciation – By going through your home and the things in it and choosing to downsize,
you will find you have a greater appreciation for what you do have.
3. Time Savings – I can’t imagine the hours I have spent in my life trying to locate things.
Looking for lost items, trying to find a particular picture, searching for something through a
junk drawer… what a benefit it is when you choose to keep less things, you have less to clean, less to maintain,
and when you do need to find something, you can do so more quickly.
4. Nicer Footprint – By choosing to rid your home of the things that clutter it, you’ll find that
you are leaving behind a better world to benefit those who come after you.
5. Save Money – When you experience the benefits of the above, you’ll find you won’t be
tempted to re-clutter your home with new things you don’t need. You’ll be more thoughtful
with future purposes, ultimately saving you money.
A final benefit, that is an added bonus to the above, is that people who live simpler lives are
emotionally and physiologically healthier than those whose lives are cluttered. It is possible
you’ve seen the television show called Hoarders. Hoarding is an obsessive compulsive disorder
in which the affected person accumulates things and is unable to get rid of them. People affected
by hoarding just cannot part with items in their homes.
A study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (by Tolin DF, Frost RO, Steketee G, et
al. Behav Res Ther. 2008 March; 46(3): 334-344) found that those who suffered from hoarding
reported greater anxiety, distress, strained relationships between family members, and overall
difficulty in family life.
Hoarding is the extreme example of having too much stuff. However, the same negative effects
can impact anyone who acquires and hangs on to a lot of things that are no longer needed.
A reduction of the amount of possessions brings the health benefits of lower levels of stress
and greater peace of mind.
Lighten Up Now – Enjoy the Benefits!