Almost everyone is under a lot of stress right now between the pandemic and inflation. You may not even notice it but if you go home to a cluttered home each day it is not helping you relax. It actually can raise your stress levels. If you live in a messy environment you may not ever truly relax. Our lives become too busy and overloaded with commitments when we have too much clutter it just makes everything more daunting. A clean and peaceful home is what we need to relax when things get hectic and our calendars are full. We need an organized and spacious environment that feels light, open, homey, and safe. However, for many of us, our homes cause more stress than anything else. It is because of clutter. A cluttered environment is messy, disorganized, and dusty, and sometimes it is hard to get motivated to start cleaning it. It sometimes feels like a monumental task. One, that some have convinced themselves there’s no point in doing because it’ll just get right back in the same condition again overnight. Some people actually believe this to be true. It’s not in most cases. Unless you live in a frat house this just isn’t the situation. Most of the time once a room is clean as long as you do a little every day it’s not that hard to keep it in good condition. If you clear out all the clutter one good time and work even a little bit every day to keep that clutter cleared then your life will be a little less stressful.
● Stop being attached to things. They’re just things.
The first step to decluttering is detaching.
Do you possess any items that you will never utilize, but feel unable to part with due to the fact they were a gift from someone you care about or because they have some other type of sentimental value? Although sentimental objects are important, we should keep a few mementos, this can go too far if it causes you to hold on to every last item you’ve ever possessed. However, if you’re concerned about hurting someone’s feelings consider finding a safe place to store items like this such as a climate-controlled storage unit, a utility building, the attic, the basement, or some other out-of-the-way place in your home or garage.
● Let go of that proverbial old doll collection or whatever type of collection you own. Pull an Elsa from “Frozen” & “Let It Go, Let It Go!”
The worst thing you can do when hoarding clutter is to view something as a collection. You probably view your DVDs as a ‘collection,’ and you have probably collected every DVD in a particular category or one that says something about you. Because you can’t throw any away without ruining your massive ‘collection,’ you can’t throw any away! It’s a big cognitive shift, but once you realize that collections don’t mean anything, decluttering will be much easier. This will be harder if it has monetary value. If a collection has value then box it carefully and store it in a closet or storage unit. They even have climate-controlled storage units that will not cause anything to be damaged by the heat or cold like a regular storage unit could.
● Learn the art of the “Pause.”
Whenever you’re thinking of buying anything new, take a moment to consider it a little more. There are numerous elements that go into a purchase, and many of them are specifically designed to exploit our emotions by marketing and sales teams. We usually make poor choices when we buy on an emotional basis. Impulse buys are hardly ever a good thing in the end. We usually come to regret them in one way or another. However, if we buy something because we’ve taken the time to think about it and then return to it, it indicates that we really need or desire it. Thus, we will be keeping our homes of things we did not really need in the first place aka clutter.
I know it sounds emotionally complicated but when you get down to the brass tacks of the matter it’s much more simple. Clutter=stress or added stress to our already stressful lives. Stress=unhappiness. So take that factor out. Get rid of the clutter, lessen your stress and be happier because of it.
If you enjoyed reading this please hit the follow button. Also if you like original abstract art please follow the link below to my website to see my portfolio and available pieces. Thank you.