How clutter affects your mental health; Plus 5 tips to Start Decluttering - Today
Social media seems to be filled with “decluttering influencers”. These individuals show you ways to throw out your stuff, because they are now “experts” since they’ve thrown away a few things and organized their homes. Some of them even have stuff to get rid of still but they work on it through their vlogging which is how they create content. In addition, there are thousands of individuals creating “organization” content, where there’s an influx of product and material they are buying or using to “organize” their homes. These trends are confusing, and can be difficult to follow. Especially since in one video someone says, “have less”, and another one shows having a ton of stuff but it’s “organized”. With all this information, it can be hard to decide. Should I organize my stuff? Should I get rid of things? Do I need to declutter or organize, that is the question! Here, let’s talk about decluttering because stuff clouds your mind.
First off though, what’s the point of decluttering? Why would anyone want to get rid of things they “might need”, or they deem important in their own life? Some people have grown up in the Western culture of individualism. Meaning, I need one of this thing and so do my family members. This attitude can increase the amount of clutter, and decrease the happiness in your home. Clutter may seem harmless, but it does have profound affects on the mental health of the person(s) living in the cluttered space. While many aspects of your life are affected by clutter, the biggest one I want to touch on is your mental health. Some studies show that anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues can be impacted by the amount of clutter in your home. Not to mention your relationships, your social life, and other areas of your life that could be impacted by clutter, which we will discuss in today’s blog. This isn’t to say clutter isn’t hard to take care of on some levels, it can be so challenging to clean up your space, especially with kids, or elderly parents or siblings to care for. Nevertheless, the affect it has on your mental health makes it worth your while to start one step at a time, and to keep up with decluttering. The point of decluttering is to free your mind.
What’s the Big Deal With Clutter?
Have you ever felt distracted by someone else’s stuff? You can’t help but notice the little trinket here, an old dish there, or something homemade up high? Or have you ever gone to a store, where they didn’t necessarily organize or keep things tidy? Did you have an easy time focusing on what you wanted to buy? Or finding what you needed? Or did you find yourself distracted, wondering about the stuff all around you, or possibly feeling unsafe throughout your time in the store because of all the stuff you were surrounded by. When life is disordered, we tend to have a harder time focusing on the here and now, what we’re actually thinking, and paying attention even to the people around us. Noticing how these environments affect your ability to focus, and absorb what is going on in the moment is a great way to start noticing how your place of living affects you as well.
Clutter seems harmless, I mean, it’s just stuff… Right? Not so fast. It may seem as if it’s “just stuff” and you do tend to “grow used to it” but at what cost? Some research indicates that clutter can cause you to struggle with focusing in the moment, and even your ability to learn new things or just remember the old stuff you already know. Ever notice how you feel distracted even when you’re sitting at your desk? Have you considered moving the papers, pens, and other messes you might have on your desk to another area? Throwing things away? Or organizing everything? Despite what some people might say about “getting used to the environment”, your brain never really does get “used to” disorganization. Why? Well, your brain is hardwired for order. Chaos is the opposite of order. Chaos in your environment, even if it’s not clutter (say it’s constant arguing), causes anxiety, stress, overwhelm, and depression. By having an organized or clearer space, you can start to think clearly, free your mind, and learn new ways of making your home a sanctuary instead of a prison sentence.
Being able to enjoy your home, apartment, room, or wherever you live is crucial. Sometimes, having too much stuff can also lead to shame, guilt, and disappointment in yourself. Many people avoid cleaning or organizing entirely because it’s “just easier” than tackling the process of organization and cleaning. Oftentimes this avoidance leads to more of the same negative self-emotions, which then causes the cycle of avoidance to only get worse. Later in this blog we will discuss ways to overcome procrastination, and steps to starting your decluttering journey. Anyways, when someone is struggling with their mental health already, it might seem as if the struggle with mental health is what is causing the clutter. However, some might debate that the clutter contributes to a negative mood overall, resulting in more cluttering, and less cleaning behaviors taking place. Resulting in more shame, guilt, and disappointment. Let’s talk about a few steps to start decluttering today.
Five Steps to Decluttering your Space
Having clutter is seriously draining, maybe you haven’t noticed the full effect it has on your life, but once you take some steps to decluttering, and putting things in their place, you will find that your mind is clearer, you can think, and you can focus in the moment. If you have ADHD, you might think, “well, I have a hard time cleaning so this won’t work for me” but I’ll let you in on a little secret - clutter can cause ADHD symptoms to worsen. As stated before, clutter causes a lack of focus in the here and now. With less clutter and more organization, you will still have symptoms of ADHD - but you may notice your ability to focus does increase. Let’s get into some steps for decluttering.
Find Your Why: This doesn’t need to be about someone else, especially not an influencers way of living (because it’s really all fake anyway). Finding your why can be the difference between getting your home clean and living with clutter forever. Ask yourself a few questions; what about my life would be better when my space is clean and clear? What kind of things am I holding onto that bring me “comfort” but not joy? Am I hoping to gain something by having all this stuff? Am I trying to impress other people? How important is it to me to declutter my home? What is the reason I want to declutter? How can I stick to this reason? Who can I share this reason with to help me stay accountable? Finally, what’s the end goal for decluttering? What do I want to see? Feel? Notice? Answering these questions can help you better understand your own reasons and desires for having a clean home, other than “well, that lady on TikTok never has dirt on her floors or toys everywhere, so why can’t I?” This mindset won’t help you stick with the decluttering process and stick with a decluttered home. Ask yourself the questions posed, journal about them, and then continue reading.
Set a Timer: If you read enough of our blogs, you will find I am obsessed with writing about setting timers, using timers, timers for everything… Timers are an incredible way to get things done, to stop procrastination (we will discuss another use of timers later). Anyways, when it comes to starting your decluttering journey, you’re going to set a timer. You decide how long you are going to work on a space, and you decide what space you’re going to work on. This could be your desk, a whole room, that chair (you know what I’m talking about), or anything you desire to do. Just remember, this is a step not the entire process, so try to make it reasonable, manageable, and fun. Why? So it doesn’t get overwhelming and cause you to avoid it anyway. Anyways, here’s an example to follow. “I’m going to take 5 minutes to clear off what I can from my nightstand”, or “I’m going to take 10 minutes to get as many dishes done as I can”, or “I’m going to spend 15 minutes picking items of clothes I want to donate from my closet”. These are all manageable tasks, with a limited timeframe to be worked on. Once the timer is up you stop. Remember, this activity helps you build trust in yourself that you’re going to do what you say you will.
Work in a Room: Instead of using a timer, or you can use a timer for a specific room if you want to. Let’s say you want to get your guest room cleaned up from all the boxes and stored kids’ items from years gone by. Pick that room, and a day, and set yourself up for success by grabbing trash bags, cleaning supplies, and whatever else you’ll need to start clearing out that room. Work room by room, not doing too many in one day which can result in becoming overwhelmed, but doing what you can. This could look like picking one room per week until you’re finished with the whole house. Or one room every other week. Try to read some of the tips for keeping yourself free from clutter at the end of this article - for now, keep reading these tips.
Ask for Help: If you’re feeling overwhelmed on where to start, what to start with, what to get rid of, etc., ask someone you trust for help. Whether your spouse, a close friend, whomever you’d like. Ask them when they are free, and if they’d be willing to help you with some decluttering tasks. Set a date and time, so they know when it’s happening. Use a timer method if they can’t help very long, or a room by room method if they are helping for a while. You could also ask multiple people to come help you. Assign tasks such as cleaning the walls, hauling boxes to the front porch, clearing the table, vacuuming, sweeping, mopping. If the tasks aren’t clear that you need to be doing, feel free to ask your friends or whomever is helping what they think the best tasks would be to get done.
Start with the Obvious: If you’re finding yourself surrounded by trash instead of stuff, try to make the process obvious. This means to start by throwing out the trash, throw broken items away, old ripped items like socks, shoes that have holes, clothes that are so stained they’re never coming clean (keep at least one of these shirts for dirty projects!), actual trash like paper plates, boxes, plastic cups, etc. You can also start with expired food, expired hygiene products, and other stuff that has dried up or no longer works. This also includes electronics, devices that are broken, and other items that aren’t working in general (lamps, broken chairs, etc.). These items may still be difficult to get rid of for some people, so take it one step at a time, and talk through the process. As you go through it, working through your emotions, and coming to terms with the need for a clear space is going to help you see what is obvious that needs to be taken care of.
Three Helpful Ways to let go of Procrastination
Like anything in life, decluttering can be hard because of the naughty old procrastination that visits when you’re trying to get things done. Let’s explore a few things you can do when procrastination visits:
Timers… I know, I know, but I use these all the time. Check out the latest blog on consistently managing your mental health, I share a few things about procrastination in there as well. From experience, I know procrastination can really be the roadblock for many people to getting things done, starting things, and continuing them as well. The point of timers here isn’t to time yourself on a task, there are a few ways to use timers. One, use a timer to start the task. This looks like setting a timer to countdown until you’re going to start the task. Set it for a very short amount of time, 30 seconds to 1 minute, then start the task at the end of the timer. Two, use a timer to see how long it takes you to complete a task instead of thinking “this is going to take forever”. Take a real guess at how long the task might take, then set your stopwatch to see how long it truly takes. For instance, you might think taking out the trash, cleaning the trash can, and getting rid of recyclables takes “forever” but in reality it only takes 10 minutes or less. Getting an idea on how long things take can help you stop procrastinating in the future by reminding yourself, “oh right, vacuuming only takes me 20 minutes - no problem!”. Third, use alarms to remind yourself of when you want to start things that are “to be done later”. Don’t silence the alarms. Instead, start the timer for how long the task will take (stopwatch), then shut off the alarm as you start the task and put your distractions away.
Backwards To Do List: Instead of having a to-do list, meaning you’ve listed all you’ll get done in the day, have a list that you write down what you actually do. For instance, start with a blank sheet of paper. Time yourself for how long it takes to declutter your nightstand, and mark down “nightstand clean” then put a line through it as done. The act of “marking it off the list” will give you a dopamine hit, allowing you to continue on the tasks you want to get done for the day. This method is not to be used alone, but in conjunction with methods 1 and 2 for letting go of procrastination.
Put Away Distractions: Oh yeah, I’m back on my kick about phones. But really, put the phone, the tablet, the Nintendo Switch, the video game console, whatever - put it away. Turn it off, hide the remote, whatever you need to do. Or if you’re a bookworm avoiding your clutter, put the book away. Whatever you find most distracting, put that thing away to help yourself start your tasks. If you have a hard time convincing yourself to put it away. One helpful way of doing this is to countdown from 5, saying something like “I’m going to put my phone down in the drawer in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1”. This countdown (when said out loud) gives your brain a focal point, and a decision of what is happening next. It’s a Mel Robbins technique that I have found helpful, and others have as well. By putting away distractions, you can learn to start your tasks easier. I know you will need a timer for things, but you can set the timer and lock your phone - it’ll go off whenever your timer is up, or you can stop the stopwatch when you’re done with the task. Either way, put it away to help yourself start the task.
Three Reasons Someone Might Have Too Much Stuff
Once upon a time, I struggled to get rid of things I thought were bringing me “joy”. I had every intention of decluttering, organizing, and making things nice and neat, but the reality is - I didn’t really know why I had so much stuff or wanted to keep buying more even though I had enough. The list provided here isn’t exhaustive on why people have lots of stuff, but these are reasons that I’ve found in myself, and with close friends and family.
A fear of not having enough: One of the biggest reasons for not being able to declutter is the fear that you won’t have enough when you’re done. Even though you wear the same outfits, use the same utensils and plates or pans and pots, you can still feel this way because of past experiences with poverty, or just simply not having what you needed at a very important time. Identifying if you’re afraid of not having enough is a key element to starting and keeping up with your decluttering journey. Recognizing the problem at the root can help you uproot the whole clutter plant, resulting in a clean home, that isn’t hard to maintain because you’re no longer afraid of not having enough.
Keeping up with other people: It might seem like everyone else “has it all”, but they’re not just buying more stuff because they are thinking of themselves. Oftentimes the people who seem to “have it all”, are also noticing others who “seem to have it all”. This cycle of looking at what someone else has, wanting it, and therefore buying it, can put you in debt, can cause you to have less joy, and it can lead to a house full of stuff that people can’t get into because of all the things you keep accumulating to “keep up” with others. The reality of keeping up with other people is that you need to call your friends, family, and others that are important to you, invite them over, and be able to have a nice meal with them - not show them your stuff. Clutter will only continue to accumulate until you’ve figured out why you want to keep up with others. Do you want to be seen a certain way? If so, how do you want to be seen? What causes you to feel you have to be seen this way? Learn strategies to let go of these expectations of yourself in therapy, or even by going through some self-help books.
Not knowing how to say “no”: I find this is the biggest reason for many people having clutter. They can’t say “no”. No is a word that is often foreign to adults. We tend to say “yes” to ourselves. Mostly because we can justify our actions to ourselves, even if others are trying to tell us we’re wrong or heading down the wrong path. When it comes to making purchases, most people aren’t thinking “well, I have this at home so I don’t need it in every color”. They’re thinking, “I like this, I want it, I’m buying it”. This becomes more obvious when someone points out that you don’t need something and the immediate reaction is to become defensive rather than examining “why am I buying this thing”? For instance, some people have 15 Stanley water cups. Explain how this makes sense… You need to take one for each day of your work week to justify this to me, and share them with friends too. But in my mind, you can use one. Maybe two if someone else needs one in your house. Regardless of this, there are a few things you can ask yourself when it comes to making purchases… Do I really need this or am I buying it to keep up with others, or out of fear that I won’t have enough? If I wait a month, would I still need this? How long have I lived without this item? What would be the worst part about waiting longer to buy it or not buying it at all? If I buy this, will it be giving me something new or adding to things I already have too many of? Is this item going to align with my goals for decluttering? What’s making it hard for me to say “no” to myself right now? All these questions can be pondered while shopping, but also - ponder them at home. Ponder them before making online purchases.
There are many more reasons for people overbuying, and overconsuming items. Think about some of your reasons for having so much stuff, and why you want to have that stuff. What does it do for you? If anything at all? Working out your reasons behind having stuff can really help you start to let go of things that aren’t benefiting you. Especially if you’ve been trapped by your stuff, and you feel you can’t have friends over because of the stuff around you. Or if your family is starting to have issues with your stuff. There are a multitude of reasons to start identifying if it’s a good time to declutter. Just remember, if you’re here, today is a great day to start decluttering and working on making your space somewhere you love being.
Conclusion
Decluttering can feel overwhelming, especially with large amounts of things to start with. However, you can only do anything with one step or one move at a time. Everything in life that you need to get done requires movement. While it isn’t easy, when you get rid of clutter around your home, you can start to get clearer in your mind. As we discussed, decluttering can literally clean your mind one step at a time. Here at Life in Bloom, we’re all about helping clear the mind. So, take it one step at a time, pick a small area, do what you know is easiest to start with first, and soon enough you’ll be on your way to decluttering your spaces. Remember, take time to think on what kept you cluttered in the first place, and work to find the source of your need for “stuff”. This can help reduce the need to get more stuff once you’ve decluttered. Even though it may seem daunting, it’s clear that having a mind freed from clutter around you can truly help you navigate stress, and other life challenges with greater efficiency. Decluttering helps your mental health, clutter is only making it worse.
Remember, your life is always in bloom - make room for the flowers you desire to see in your life.
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