Do you seem to be struggling with a lot of clutter in your home? Lots of people have this problem. Do you know how clutter affects your life? In fact, clutter can have a profound effect on your mind as well as your body.
Hopefully, the following information is helpful in encouraging you to find a way to get rid of the clutter once and for all.
Do you love walking into your home at the end of a busy day at work? Does it feel like a peaceful place that you call your sanctuary?
Or do you feel so much dread because of all the clutter such as clothes on the floor, magazines, and papers? Or maybe a kitchen that could use a good clean!
There are all sorts of studies that show how the quality of your home reflects the state of your mind.
Clutter Means Something is Out of Balance
In fact, disorganization and clutter show that there is something out of balance. It is important to figure out what is out of sorts and learn how to make it right.
If you live in a cluttered and messy home it can be very stressful for everyone who lives there. If you are a parent chances are you are always looking for something for your kids.
Or, maybe you or your spouse end up being late for work most mornings because you can’t find the car keys.
The result is more frustration, more tension, probably a few fights and this recks havoc with your relationships.
More Frustration Caused by Clutter
How do you feel when you have misplaced something and you end up spending an inordinate amount of time trying to find whatever it is that you have lost?
Do you end up berating yourself or blame someone else? Or perhaps you get so frustrated that you are ready to throw in the towel!
The problem is that you are one edge and a simple question from your child or spouse could have you being snappy at them. Feelings get hurt!
This is no way to live when the solution to the problem is simple: declutter and get your home organized.
Effects on the Body and Mind from to Clutter
It is a fact that too much clutter can make you tired as it drains your energy. You feel overwhelmed having to face all the clutter.
You probably know that you need to do something about decluttering but you just don’t have the energy.
There are many ways how clutter affects your life. It’s not just about the mess in your home.
How to Start the Declutter Process
The first step is to pick one small area or one small room to declutter. Perhaps you can start with the bathroom.
This room generally doesn’t have any furniture, so organizing the cupboard is a good start.
Or simply empty the trash can, clean the fixtures and wash the floor. Put out some clean towels. This is a great start!
Once you have successfully cleaned one area, you just might find yourself inspired to work on another area.
How Clutter Affects the Body
I bet you didn’t know that clutter can actually make you physically sick. The problem is that clutter is a breeding ground for dust, mold, mildew, and germs.
If it is a major problem you could also be attracting critters like mice or rats!
Not only can it make you physically sick due to germs but clutter can make you sick from all the stress.
In fact, stress can cause high blood pressure and all the germs can cause allergies or other diseases.
Clutter and Body Weight
If you are someone who has a lot of clutter in the home and you are overweight, you might not realize that clutter has an effect on your weight.
The reason is that people with a lot of clutter tend to be more sedentary.
I bet you never thought about how clutter affects your life when it came to the number on the scale.
It probably has something to do with feeling overwhelmed, not have a lot of energy, and so moving becomes a problem.
Clutter, like being overweight can be a means of protecting yourself.
Since you won’t be inviting people into your home, this keeps people away so you won’t run the risk of getting hurt.
7 Tips to Speed Up the Decluttering Process Video:
Once you have a better understanding of how clutter affects your life, you will be more able to actually do something about it.
You have the chance to turn things around. Start small by decluttering one small space.
Make a plan to do a little bit each day and over a period of time, you will find you have decluttered your home and perhaps even your life!
If you need a little help getting started, here is a link to a PDF: Declutter Checklist!
How to Declutter More Than Just Your Home
Clutter can show up in every place in your life and not just your home. You can have clutter in your mind, your calendar of things you need to do, and even your workspace.
It is important to realize that if you have clutter in one of these areas, you probably have clutter in all of these areas!
Even if you are trying to overcome the clutter in your house, it may be time to consider where else you need to declutter.
A Cluttered Mind: Is your mind cluttered? To find out, take out a piece of paper or a notebook and pen.
Start writing down all the things that you need to do in your life. Write Everything Down!
This will help you to see what you have to accomplish and you will have a list that you can check off as you finish the items.
It is a great way to take care of important things and not end up wasting your time by watching TV or playing games on your tablet or phone.
A Cluttered Body: People who have a lot of clutter may also have a weight problem. Once you start to let go of the clutter in your house, you may find you are more easily able to get rid of excess weight.
A Cluttered Calendar: Is your calendar full of activities that you and your family participate in each week?
In order to declutter your calendar, you might want to ask the family which of the activities mean the most to them.
If you can remove some of the activities, everyone will have more time to be together as a family and less stress.
Cluttered Finances: This may be something you haven’t thought about before. But it might be a good idea to see if your bills are draining you.
If you are married, sit down with your partner and go over your finances. Do you really need to be paying for all the bells and whistles on your cell phone?
Are there TV channels that you could cancel or find a cheaper way to watch movies?
Perhaps you spend too much money eating out or ordering in a lot of the time. It may be easier, but is this way of living even good for your health?
A Cluttered Work Space: If you work from home, having a cluttered workspace may be affecting your productivity.
If you work in an office, is your space a clutter of pictures and paper?
If you work with tools, do you know where everything is or do you waste time trying to find the wrench you need?
When you have a functional, clean area for working not only is your productivity increased, but you will also have less stress.
How to Declutter Your Mind Video:
Final Thoughts:
No one decides one day to live in a cluttered home or have their lives get cluttered up with junk.
The problem is that clutter tends to creep into our lives over time before we even begin to notice the mess. And there goes the opportunity to have the life you love.
Hopefully, you can use some of these ideas presented here to take a look at your life and decide that you would rather have a sense of freedom.
Even though clutter affects your life in so many negative ways, you can start today to change that!
