Lumbung WainsightanJul 4Written By Trisnawati
Nowadays, buying goods online looks more profitable and attractive because of the many discount offers every month. Plus the existence of fashion trends on social media makes many people motivated to follow them and tend to make impulse purchases. Impulse buying is a buying behavior that encourages consumers to buy goods due to sudden, very strong, and continuous urges.
Unplanned purchases will make it easier for us to continue buying things without consideration thus making our house or room become full of goods. In fact, we need to pay attention to time and energy to ensure these items remain clean and can be used. This becomes a problem when the items we have are too many even piled up, :
A closet that no longer holds enough clothes.
Accessories were lying everywhere.
The books scattered on the shelves towered, but they were never read again.
It requires more effort to clean and manage it. Just imagine when we go home after college all day and see the state of the house that is messy, crowded, cramped, and full of things makes us even more tired, stressed, and other negative feelings. We become lazier to clean and manage it. In fact, just touching those things is not willing.
Need an activity that can reduce the number of items, one of which is by decluttering. Decluttering is the activity of cleaning and getting rid of items that no longer provide benefits / value in our lives. The goal is to clean up the disorder and chaos caused by the accumulation of goods carried out episodicly so that the results are maximized. Getting rid of items is not as easy as imagined because the items we have contain emotional power and memories. It takes firmness and courage from oneself to be able to let go of things.
Reduce Consumptive Behavior
The habit of decluttering will make us aware of how important the items we already have so that they can reduce consumptive attitudes. “Spark Joy”, one of the techniques in decluttering, becomes an option to recognize the important value of the items we have.
Spark Joy is done by holding objects that will go through the decluttering process. Then, we ask ourselves, doesthis item still make us happy or not. When the item is no longer used and does not make us happy, we can donate or sell it. However, when we still do not find the answer regarding the value and usefulness of the item, we can store it for several weeks. After that, we evaluate again whether this item is still really needed and brings happiness or not.
Being Yourself, Free from Trends
Another benefit of decluttering is that we no longer pay attention to trends and begin to interpret the reasons behind trend-following behavior actually. Meaning like, following trends to be liked and confessed to yourself, or for others? When others are the goal, it doesn’t always lead to problems. However, if we constantly do it for others, and force ourselves to follow existing trends, gradually we can lose our true selves. By doing decluttering, slowly we focus more on finding our own style. Once we are able to find our own style, we can indirectly suppress social pressures and existing trends.
Better Mental Health
Some studies explain that tidying up the house can make individuals feel better about themselves and their environment.Reduced negative emotions, stress, and anxiety become perceived benefits because the individual no longer sees his or her home cluttered and full of stuff. We also feel freer because a small amount of stuff makes stress less and becomes lighter.
Decluttering makes the home space more spacious and clean. The dominance of positive emotions is also more often felt because they enjoy a neat home atmosphere, and feel useful through items that have been donated useful to others. Decluttering also helps us to increase focus, the quality of relationships is more positive, hone creativity, and easily be grateful for what we already have.
“Feeling” Happy rather than “Becoming” Happy
Living with conditions that are all-round and easy sometimes makes us complacent to interpret happiness simply. There are some people who put their happiness on the success of buying an item. It is this kind of pseudo-happiness that makes us fooled that the source of happiness does not lie in the existence of objects, but the meaning of these objects in our lives. Shopping that is no longer a necessity can make us obsessed with goods. This obsession leads to the perception that happiness is only obtained from material things, which can be a place for competition and fulfillment of desires.
Being happy starts with yourself. Being happy is about sufficiency and gratitude. Happiness is all around us and it’s actually easy for us to achieve, but what complicates it is ourselves. The complicated rules we make unconsciously limit us from feeling happy. Even some times we aspire to “be” happy, as if we have not been able to get happiness at this time. For example: there is a new hijab fashion trend and it is currently under great discount. Some people may feel compelled to buy the hijab right now and feel that following the trend is an obligation that cannot be missed. When they don’t follow there will be feelings of anxiety, anxiety, disappointment, and not hanging out anymore.
Research explains that reducing ownership of goods can be a time management strategy to focus more on the activities we consider important. One of them is to attach importance to our own situation. Reflecting on what happiness actually means and other reflections that help us to know ourselves more deeply. In addition, decluttering also contributes to making us happier. This can happen because we tend to feel more positive emotions (for example: happy, gratitude, calm, satisfied, relieved), happiness by focusing on prioritizing self-comfort, and finding more positive relationships. Decluttering can help us to feel happiness from within instead of looking for endless pseudo-happiness.
LifestyleMental HealthTrisnawati
A woman who is busy adventuring with herself.