I’d be pretty surprised if, when asked to name your top five (or ten) Valentine’s Day gifts, you came up with organizing. Whether your ideal item to give or receive is a beautiful bouquet, a spa day, a love poem, or a romantic date night, decluttering is very unlikely to make the list. But let me make a case for including it this year…

Decluttering provides lasting beauty. Those red roses are dramatic, I admit. But no matter how well you care for them, they’ll be wilted in a week and dead in two. Tackling a cluttered corner, on the other hand, can create a soothing oasis that keeps on giving. It also often inspires taking on other organizing tasks you’ve wanted to do but have kept putting off.

Organizing equals care, both for you and those around you. Having a clear, decluttered desk and organized home-office space improves efficiency and helps spur creativity. (There’s a good reason so many self-care blogs focus on organizing!) Like a massage, but with longer-lasting results, it reduces stress and averts arguments over who will work where.

Collaborating on reducing clutter nurtures good communication. We tend to find our partner’s/spouse’s/significant other’s “mess” far more annoying than our own “stuff.” Not surprisingly, that partner/spouse/ SO feels similarly. If you’re like the rest of us, this has resulted in more than one argument about why that mess (stuff) is where it is and not where it belongs. Recognizing this dynamic and working together to develop spaces that function for everyone and systems to keep those spaces organized can be a wonderful way to relive memorable moments and nourish healthy channels of communication. (A bit of help from a professional organizer can also be especially useful in this context!)

Clearing spaces makes family time more fun and date nights spicier. How often have you dreaded trying to corral your partner and/or kids into devoting two (or four or six) hours on a lovely Sunday to getting the house in decent order? Dedicating some time now to organizing spaces means less maintenance every week, freeing you to check out museums, play board games, or even take a spontaneous day trip (or romantic dinner and hotel!).

I’m not the only one to see decluttering as an act of love. The Washington Post’s Home and Design team recently offered up these Sixteen pieces of tough love from professional home organizers. And Bookshop.org describes Margareta Magnussen’s bestseller, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning as “a charming, practical, and unsentimental approach to putting a home in order while reflecting on the tiny joys that make up a long life.”

So whether you’re looking for tough love or gentle love or something in between, I hope you enjoy this little Valentine’s Day present.