Stress Reduction

If you feel stress in your home and life, one way to reduce that stress is to reduce the amount of clutter in your home.

Clutter causes confusion. A space full of clutter makes one specific item hard to find. If you can’t find something in your home or work space, you might feel powerless. You could fee that powerlessness both at home and at work, adding to your feeling of stress. If you are constantly looking for something and can’t find it, you have more stress in your life. Plus, you are wasting time that you could use doing something fun just to look for items you can’t find in your home. One example of this is if you are frequently late for appointments or work. If you can’t find what you need before you go to work, you’ll probably be late. Hunting for keys, gloves, homework or other miscellaneous items that are not in a specific place is a waste of time and energy. And the more you have to look for stray stuff, the more stress you have.

Clutter is also a waste of money. How many times have you been unable to find something, like tape, and had to run to the store to buy some. Sure enough, as soon as you get home, you find 2 or 3 rolls of tape that you didn’t know you already had. If you had a specific place for each item, you’d know what you have. You wouldn’t accumulate duplicates that are unneeded as well as a waste of time and money to buy and store.

Less Stuff

Let’s face it. If you have less stuff, you have less stuff to keep track of and clean. You don’t have to worry about where to store extra stuff. And if you have an organized home, you won’t have to spend time looking for stuff, because you’ll already know where your belongings are. So less stuff equals less stress.

Causes of Clutter

Maybe your life has been out of control. One way to tell if your personal and spiritual lives are in control is to look at your living environment. When people are mentally healthy and happy, their homes reflect this by being organized. When people are physically ill, it shows in their homes. You or someone you love may have been sick recently. If you were busy caring for that person, you might not have had enough energy to do much else but care for the ill person.

Clutter piled up because you or someone in your family was ill. It happens. One way to build back strength is to slowly sort and declutter your home. Set a small amount of time to clear off your kitchen table or counter. Do not overdo while decluttering. If all you do is sort and toss for 5 minutes, that’s great. Give yourself a rest. Then do more if you feel up to it. If not, that’s okay, too. Wait until later or tomorrow to work on more decluttering. Eventually you will build up strength and get your house back in order. It didn’t get cluttered overnight, and won’t be decluttered overnight. Be patient.

Clutter and Relationships

Maybe you have had a recent life change that has left your life cluttered. Your mind is probably feeling cluttered, too. So now is the perfect time to declutter. Birth, death, separation, and starting a new relationship are all lifestyle changes that can make you aware of the clutter in your life. If you have recently ended a relationship, you can ease your heart and clutter situation by sorting through belongings that remind you of that person. If you think the person would really like that item back, by all means find a way to give the item back. But if your significant other left some time ago, you can go ahead and get rid of their stuff. Throw stuff away that reminds you of that person.

Or if you think someone could get some use from these items, donate them to a local shelter or thrift store. This activity can be of benefit in at least 2 different ways. In the first place, you can remove your ex’s possessions from your home, which can be mentally very therapeutic. In the second place, decluttering your ex’s stuff from your home is great physical exercise, and may sooth your broken heart as well.

Clutter and Grief

Removing the possessions of a deceased loved one is more that merely decluttering, but is still a necessary activity after a person had died. Be honest with yourself about what is junk, but be sure to save a few things to keep for sentimental reasons. And people in need always appreciate donations of good used clothing and household items. If you really can’t decide whether or not to get rid of something, store that item for a while. When a little time has passed, you may be better able to make decisions about how to dispose of your loved ones belongings. Here again, the act of decluttering the possessions of a loved one can be therapeutic. Enjoy memories that come to you while you sort, toss and donate. Choose something to keep as a memento if you are allowed to. And the physical exercise of decluttering a loved one’s home helps you work through your grief as well.