Zen and the Art of Increasing Your Home’s Value

home-value-minimalismRaising two kids and running two businesses, our home can get very messy, very fast.  I used to easily fall into feeling overwhelmed and crowded in my own home, thinking it’s time to move and find more space.  My temporary solution would be to do some cleaning-up, weeding out and organizing to feel better.

But in order to really fall in love with my West Roxbury home again I had to do a lot more.  I started embracing aspects of minimalistic living, rethinking my relationship with all the stuff in our home.  Inspired by the blog Zen Habits, the book The Joy of Less, and Throw Our Fifty Things (I only read the cover), I began the process.

For three months I set a goal of getting rid of fifty things monthly.  Sounds hard?  The first month was easy, the second required a little thought, and the third month was tougher but more fun than the previous two.  It became a game, a personal challenge, and I found things accumulating dust and holding bad memories.  Getting rid of those was liberating.

Changing my relationship with stuff has increased my home value in two ways.  First, I fell in love with the space again.  I enjoy the home more and feel no need to move in the foreseeable future.  A larger home has no use or appeal anymore.  This home is more valuable to me than ever.

The second way in which I’ve increased my home’s value is by the way it looks to others.  With fewer things to store, there is more space to live.  If we ever decide to sell, (or more likely rent), our home will be easier to present.  Sure, we can prepare the home for sale, de-clutter and organize, but then we are faced with the challenge of storing things in the basement.  We’ll feel uncomfortable without our usual things around us, rather than just living our normal daily lifestyle.

What we really want to do in our homes is enjoy time with family, play, dance, cook, eat, read, and sleep.   The more stuff we have the more we spend our time at home cleaning, sorting, and organizing.  I think of each possession, however small, as an added responsibility.  As if just paying the mortgage isn’t a big enough responsibility!

It’s an ongoing process.  I didn’t wake up one morning and enjoyed getting rid of things it took 36 years to accumulate.  But now I can only recommend it.  You can be liberated and find more value in your home.

Enjoy your day.

By the way, if you are thinking of buying a home soon, take a look at my post from last summer, when I began my process of de-cluttering.  Minimalism to Home-Ownership talks about how to minimalism can help you become a homeowner faster.

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